My Heart Nearer to Thee
by Sara Wolfe
Summary: When Phoebe's husband and son are abducted to a strange alternate universe, the Charmed Ones must travel across reality to save them. But, the journey is fraught with danger, and the sisters will find themselves facing situations that will change their lives, forever. Sequel to Gossamer and Comes Out of Darkness, Morn.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Well, here we are. Part three of the _Down the Twisted Path_ universe. This is the part where we really start veering away from canon. As always, a million thanks to my fantastic beta, **liron-aria**. And to my amazing readers and reviewers.

* * *

_**Six Months Earlier**_

After Cole and her son had faded away from the clearing, Phoebe simply took several long minutes to stare up at the stars, tears drying on her cheeks.

_"Don't cry, Mom," her son told her, a bright smile lighting up his face. "We'll see each other again. The Elders have promised."_

"Why not now?" she asked, plaintively, her head still tipped back as she looked up at the dark sky. "If you're going to send them back to me, why can't you send them back to me, now?"

Predictably, there was no answer.

Phoebe sighed, heavily, her shoulders slumping. "Leo?" she called out, softly, and a few seconds later, the Whitelighter orbed in beside her. "I'm ready to go home, now," she replied, and Leo nodded, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. They orbed into the Manor to the sound of Piper and Paige arguing, and Phoebe shared a grin with Leo.

"It's nice to know," Leo commented, "that no matter what, some things will never change."

"I know what you mean," Phoebe remarked, and then she walked into the middle of her sisters' fight.

"-are we supposed to just walk away from our Innocents?"

Phoebe winced at the furious tone in Paige's voice. She told herself that she shouldn't have been surprised that they were back to _this_ topic. Honestly, what was surprising was that it had taken her sisters this long.

"We've been in this fight for four years," Piper protested, and Paige snorted, derisively.

"So, what?" she asked. "We'll just tell the rest of the world to defend themselves, from now on out?"

"Selena is being treated for second degree burns on her legs," Piper shot back. "She nearly died, tonight, because of us. Because of our magic."

"Okay, the whole thing with Selena could have been handled a lot better," Paige conceded.

"You think?" Piper muttered, and that was when Phoebe decided to step in.

"Can we maybe table this discussion until the morning?" she asked, as both of her sisters looked over at her. "I mean, it looks like the Angel of Destiny is giving us the rest of the night to think things over, and I think that's what we should do. Actually _think_ about this, not just snipe uselessly at each other."

Both Piper and Paige looked chastised at her mild rebuke.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Paige said, immediately. "I didn't even think to ask, are Cole and your son-"

"They're okay," Phoebe told her, accepting the hug that her younger sister offered her.

"They're dead," Piper felt compelled to point out, and Phoebe surprised her by chuckling, wiping away new tears from her eyes.

"I have it on good authority that it's not going to be a permanent condition," she replied. "Or, he was talking about something else," she mused, thoughtfully. "But, it sounded like a good thing, and I don't think the Elders would think that that was a good thing-"

"What are you talking about?" Paige demanded, and Phoebe shrugged, helplessly.

"Honestly, I don't even know," she admitted. "I am so tired, right now-"

"Get some sleep," Piper said, sympathetically. "You're right; we'll talk about this in the morning. Things will be clearer, then."

Phoebe nodded, wearily, trudging up the stairs. As she went, she heard Paige's quiet, "Hey, Piper, I'm sorry," and Piper's answering apology, both of which made her smile.

Piper and Paige could never stay mad at each other for long, and Phoebe had never seen them go to bed while they were still fighting. Of course, one time that meant that they'd stayed awake until three in the morning –

_'Never let it be said that my sisters aren't stubborn,'_ Phoebe thought, wryly, as she kicked her shoes off and climbed into bed without even bothering to change into her pajamas. She was too tired, and too sore to consider moving much more than the effort required to pull the blankets over her head.

She couldn't spare any more thoughts for Piper or Paige, though, because as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was fast asleep.

* * *

_When she opened her eyes, again, she was sitting on a blanket with the makings of an enormous picnic spread out around her. She was leaning back against something solid, and she tipped her head back to see Cole looking down at her, a gentle smile playing at his lips. _

_"You like it?" he asked, gesturing to the picnic, and Phoebe smiled back at him. _

_"It's wonderful," she told him, her eyes drifting shut as he leaned down to kiss her. "I just wish it weren't a dream."_

_"Someday," Cole assured her, "it won't be. I promise."_

_"Where's our son?" Phoebe asked, a moment later, opening her eyes and looking around the field of flowers they were sitting in. "He is here, isn't he? Is he safe?"_

_"He's fine," Cole told her, soothingly. "He's-"_

_Before Cole could finish his sentence, they heard a bright peal of laughter, and Phoebe beamed when she watched her son coming running up to them, a big dog hot on his heels. The dog vanished into thin air as her son got closer._

_"I think he's going to want a dog," Cole finished, wryly._

_"Well," Phoebe remarked, "the penthouse is still in our name, which makes it mine, now, and it could handle a dog-" The rest of her sentence was cut off by her son, who dropped onto the blanket in front of her with a boisterous smile on his face. _

_"Mom!" he giggled, happily, throwing his arms around her in a tight hug. "You made it!"_

_"Was there ever any doubt?" Phoebe asked him. _

_"With the bond the two of you share," Cole remarked, "I'm surprised you didn't get here before now."_

_"Well, I had to fall asleep, first," Phoebe told him. Looking around, she added, "What is this place? Is this Limbo?"_

_"From what I understand," Cole replied, "it's an intermediate place. Holding, until the Elders can get things rolling."_

_"Which is sending you back to me, right?" Phoebe asked, a hint of anxiety sneaking into her voice. "They're not going to send you both to the Great Beyond, or something?"_

_"That's what we were told," Cole said, reassuringly. "I don't know how they can do it-"_

_"Neither do I," Phoebe said. "After Prue died, they told us that they didn't have the power to bring her back from the dead, but-"_

_"But, maybe they made a deal with someone who does have that kind of power," Cole said. Sharing a look with Phoebe, he shrugged. "I don't really care how they plan on doing it."_

_"If it's something evil," Phoebe cautioned, but her son cut her off._

_"They're not evil, Mom," he said, hastily. "I-" he broke off, a light blush coloring his cheeks. "I know what evil feels like, and they're not."_

_"Neither are you," Phoebe told him, hugging the little boy tightly when he still didn't look convinced. "You were possessed. What happened was not your fault."_

_"Are you sure?" he asked, in a small voice, and Phoebe nodded, firmly. _

_"I am one hundred percent positive," she told him. "Hey, why don't you see if you can get that dog back, huh?"_

_As her son ran off to play, Phoebe turned back to Cole with a worried look on her face. _

_"How does he even remember being evil?" she asked, in a low voice. "He wasn't even born, yet. I was only a couple months pregnant."_

_"You are asking the wrong person," Cole told her, with a wry grin. "That is one area of magic that I will never be able to explain." When Phoebe still looked worried, he added, "Maybe it's some kind of instinctual, soul memory."_

_"Leo said once that our souls remember across lifetimes," Phoebe commented. "Do you think that's what's going on here?"_

_"I think it's as good an answer as any," Cole told her, but the rest of his sentence was cut off by the fact that the very air around them was going very rapidly blurry. _

_Phoebe clutched at Cole's arm, her grip tightening as everything grayed out around them. When she could finally see, again, she blinked in surprise to find that they weren't in the meadow, any longer. Instead, they were sitting in the middle of a dirt path, and she and Cole scrambled to their feet. _

_"What the hell?" Cole exclaimed, looking as shocked as she felt. "Where are we?"_

_"I don't know," Phoebe started, but then she trailed off in horror when she realized who was missing. "Cole, where's-"_

_"I don't know," Cole said, his panicked face mirroring her own. "I-"_

_Phoebe went to shout for her son, but then she stopped, stunned, when she realized that she didn't know his name. Or if he even had a name. _

_"What's his name?" she snapped at Cole, anxiously, who, to her surprise, looked faintly abashed. _

_"He wanted to pick a name, himself," he explained, sheepishly. "He hadn't settled on one, yet."_

_"Our son has no name?" Phoebe asked, incredulously. "Cole, he has to have a name!"_

_Luckily, the argument became moot when their son ran down the path and straight into Phoebe's arms. She clutched him, tightly, unable to speak for the tears choking her throat. It had just been a few seconds that he'd been missing, but it had been the longest few seconds of her life. She never wanted to feel that way, again. _

_"Mom, Dad, you have to come see," the boy was saying, excitedly, and Phoebe reluctantly released him to go back up the path, following behind with Cole by her side. _

_Then, they reached the spot their son had arrived at, and Phoebe stared at the scene before her in amazement. _

_"Is that a castle?" she asked, and Cole nodded, numbly. _

_"Yeah," he agreed, staring at the castle, a blank look on his face. _

_"Why is there a castle there?" she went on, and Cole jerked his shoulder in a shrug. _

_"Maybe we shou-" he started to say, but then the world started to fade away in front of Phoebe's eyes. She reached toward Cole and her son, desperate not to lose either of them, but her hands grasped at thin air. _

Then, she bolted upright in bed, breathing heavily as she stared blindly into the dark room.

"Cole?" she asked, her voice shaking, and then she closed her eyes when there was no answer.

A wave of grief swamped her, almost overwhelming her to the point where she wanted to curl up in bed and never come out from under the covers. But, she resolutely pushed the feelings aside. Her husband and her son were lost out in the universe, somewhere, and she would be damned if she sat on her ass and did nothing.

"I am going to find you," she declared, her son's brilliant smile burned in her memory. "No matter how long it takes."

Then, she got out of bed and went downstairs to talk to Leo. She needed to know everything that the Elders knew about Cole and her son's disappearance.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. For those who were wondering about the name of Phoebe's son, you're going to find out here.

* * *

_**Present Day**_

_Phoebe looked around the alleyway that she'd landed in. "This looks like home," she remarked, out loud. _

_"That's because, as far as I can tell, we are home." Cole's voice came from behind her, and Phoebe whirled around, jumping into her husband's arms, happily. She pulled him down into a long kiss, and then pulled back to look him in the eye. _

_"If we were really home," she told him, "I wouldn't be dreaming all of this."_

_"Well, technically," Cole pointed out, "this is more of a premonition than a dream."_

_Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Don't be a smartass."_

_"Well, you and your sisters are bad influences," Cole retorted, grinning. _

_"Where's-" Phoebe started to ask, looking around, and then she looked sharply at Cole. "Please tell me he finally picked a name."_

_"He has," Cole said, and the tone in his voice made Phoebe cautious. _

_"Please tell me that it's not Arnold," she pleaded, hopefully. _

_"It's not Arnold," Cole replied, teasingly, and then he finally relented in the face of Phoebe's stony glare. "Josh," he told her. "Our son has named himself Joshua Ben Halliwell."_

_"Ben?" Phoebe echoed. _

_"After Grandfather," a young voice said, from behind her, and Phoebe turned around to see her son watching her, a happy smile on his face. _

_"You do have two grandfathers," Phoebe pointed out, as she wrapped her son up in a tight embrace. "Which one did you name yourself after?"_

_Josh just shot her a guileless smile, looking eerily like his father in that moment, but he wouldn't answer. After a moment, Phoebe just shook her head in exasperation, matching her son's grin with her own. _

_"Fine, then," she teased him, gently. "Keep your secrets. We'll find out, eventually. So," she went on, looking back over at Cole. "Where do you think we are? Since we're obviously not home, I mean?"_

_"Honestly," Cole told her, "Josh and I have only been here for about half an hour, ourselves. Until you showed up the way you did, I honestly thought that we had made our way back to our own reality. I guess that it was too much to hope for."_

_"At least this is better than the world of the Purple Marshmallow People," Phoebe commented. She and Cole both shuddered at the thought of their thankfully-brief time in the bizarre reality. "I wish we knew what was causing this."_

_"The Elders still don't have any ideas?" Cole asked, and Phoebe shook her head, ruefully. _

_"Not a clue," she told him. "They don't know what pulled you out of our reality in the first place, or why you and Josh keep switching realities at random."_

_"I think I might have an answer," Cole replied. "Mind you, this is only a whisper of a rumor, but it's more than we had before."_

_"Well, what is it?" Phoebe asked, impatiently. "If I have a hint of even something to tell the Elders, they might be able to get you and Josh home to me."_

_"There are beings," Cole said, "rumored to exist outside of space and time. Exempt from the laws that govern other mortal beings. They're called the Avatars. And from what I've heard, pulling off something like this would be child's play, to them."_

_"But, why?" Phoebe asked, confused. "If these Avatars really do exist, then why would they spend all this time and energy sending you and Josh to a hundred different realities? What would they possibly have to gain? Why would they even be interested? No offense," she added, hastily, hearing how her last words had sounded. _

_"No," Cole reassured her, "I'm as baffled as you are. The only reason that I can think that they would be interested in us is that Josh and I were both possessed by the Source, and if some remnant of the power still lingers in either of us-"_

_"Wait a minute," Phoebe broke in, catching onto his train of thought, "you think the Avatars are trying to recruit you?"_

_"Well, I don't think they're doing all of this for kicks and giggles," Cole retorted, dryly. "I think they're testing us. Seeing what we're really capable of."_

_"Those bastards," Phoebe growled, but the rest of her sentence was cut off by the sound of a young boy's high-pitched scream. _

_She looked around, panic flooding her when she realized that Josh was no longer with them. Cole was already running in the direction of the scream, and Phoebe was barely a second behind him. They burst into an alleyway to find Josh, standing frozen at the mouth of the alley, a look of sheer terror on his face. And at the end of the blind alley was the reason for that terror. _

_A pack of scaly, horned demons had their prey cornered against the brick wall at the far end of the alley. And from the sounds coming from the unseen Innocent, the demons were winning. _

_"We have to-" Phoebe started, but then she broke off in the middle of her sentence. _

_She was nothing more here than an astral projection; she certainly didn't have any powers to fight the demons off with. Cole, beside her, was a human, just as vulnerable in this moment as she. And then there was their son to think about…_

_But, out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Josh pressed himself up against the side of one of the buildings, the color of his skin and clothes shifting until he was practically indistinguishable from the brick behind him. And at her side, Cole had pulled a pair of wicked-looking daggers out of sheaths on his arms, holding one out to her in offering. _

_"Just like old times, yeah?" he suggested, and Phoebe felt an answering grin spread across her face. _

_"To old times," she agreed, taking the dagger in a firm grip, and then she and Cole charged the demons. _

_The demons were clearly not expecting to be attacked, and despite their greater numbers, Phoebe and Cole still more than held their own. Phoebe took out two of the demons in quick succession, wincing when a third raked its claws across her arm, leaving a trio of long, shallow gashes running from her elbow down to her wrist. She ignored the fire burning up her arm as she tackled the third demon, knocking it to the ground and driving the dagger home in its heart. Then, she looked over to see how Cole was doing with his half of the pack. _

_Unsurprisingly, Cole had finished off his demons at the same time, and was kneeling down beside their fallen victim with a concerned look in his eyes. Then, he gently rolled the man over onto his back, and something like panic flashed across his face. Phoebe scrambled to his side before he could even open his mouth, and then stared down in shock at the body of Cole Turner lying on the ground in front of them. _

_"Cole, how-" she started, but then she gasped when the doppelganger opened his eyes. _

_"Mom, what's going on?" Josh called out, shakily, from behind them, and Phoebe quickly turned and motioned for her son to stay where he was. _

_"Don't come any closer, sweetie," she said, shaking her head. "Just stay there, okay?"_

_"Okay," Josh agreed, softly, not moving from the spot he was standing on, and Phoebe turned back around in time to see Cole wrap a hand around the dagger buried in his doppelganger's stomach. _

_For a second, it looked like he was trying to pull the dagger out, but then she saw that the other Cole had his hand around the hilt, as well. Her Cole was trying to keep him from pulling the dagger out._

_"Don't," Cole was saying to his doppelganger. "Leave it in. We can get you to a healer-"_

_The other Cole opened his mouth, a strange, gurgling sound emerging from deep within his throat. A trickle of blood ran slowly down the corner of his mouth, and his eyes rolled back in his head. After a moment, Phoebe reached out with a trembling hand to slowly close his eyes. _

_"Damn," Cole muttered, under his breath, as he stared down at the lifeless body. _

_He shook his head in regret, moving to stand up. As he did, he inadvertently pulled out the dagger that he still held in his hand, and once free of the other Cole's body, the blade of the dagger started to glow. _

_"Um, honey," Phoebe suggested, watching the light from the blade grow in intensity, "maybe you should drop that thing."_

_"Probably a good idea," Cole agreed, but even though she could see him trying, it was like he couldn't get his fingers to obey him. _

_The light simply crept up the blade and onto his hand, sinking into his skin. When the dagger was dark, again, Cole was finally able to let go of the blade, letting it fall to the asphalt with a noisy clatter. _

_"So," Cole said, conversationally, "that can't have been good."_

_"I'm beginning to think that nothing that happens in this universe is going to be good," Phoebe grumbled, as she left his side to join Josh, hugging her son to her. _

_A second later, when a pillar of flame filled the air next to the dead Cole, she was beginning to regret her words. Even more so when the demon beneath the flames turned out to be her. Phoebe stared in wordless shock at her alternate-reality clone, taking in the short, dark hair, the expensive clothes and jewels the other was sporting, and, oh yeah, the obvious use of demonic powers. _

_"Any time you want to get out of here," Phoebe suggested to Cole, in an undertone, "and maybe find some place less evil-"_

_She hadn't been as quiet as she'd hoped, because the other Phoebe heard her, turning around to glare at the people standing behind her. Her eyes went wide with momentary shock when she saw them, but then she saw the bloody dagger lying at Cole's feet, and the blood covering his hands, and her eyes narrowed. _

_"You killed him," she growled, furiously, standing protectively between them and the dead Cole. _

_"No, you don't understand," Cole started, but the other Phoebe wasn't listening to him. _

_"Guards!" she bellowed, suddenly, and Phoebe started to get a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. The feeling got even worse when a group of hulking demons flamed in to surround her clone, all of them clearly waiting for her next command. "Seize them," the other woman went on, gesturing at them, and Phoebe's eyes widened as the demons started toward her and Josh. _

_Cole tried to stop them, but he was no match for the demons that simply picked him up and hurled him out of the way. Phoebe fought like crazy to keep them from getting their hands on Josh, but all she did was delay them for a few seconds before she was overpowered. Then, the demons had her and Josh in their iron grips, and she could do nothing to escape. She watched, terrified, as her doppelganger approached Cole with a cold look on her face. _

_"You took what I loved," she informed him, prodding his fallen form with her foot, "and now I'm going to take what you love. And then I'm going to kill you."_

_Then, she gestured at the demons, and Phoebe felt the stomach-lurching sensation of being transported in a burst of flame. When they rematerialized, she had a moment see Josh standing beside her, looking scared but determined, and then the shrill sound of a bell pierced her hearing. At the same time, the world started to go gray around her, and Phoebe struggled to stay asleep, struggled to stay in the Underworld with her son…_

But, she jerked awake at the insistent ringing of her alarm clock, tangled in her blankets.

_'Please,'_ she prayed, desperately, as she climbed out of bed. _'Please let that have just been a bad dream. Anything but real. Please.'_

Then, she looked in the mirror and saw a darkening bruise on her face from where one of the demons had struck her, and the long gashes on her arms, and she knew that it had not been just a dream. Cole and Josh were stuck in that hellhole of an alternate universe, and they were all alone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** To everyone who's been reading and reviewing, you guys rock.

* * *

"Missy Paige?"

Paige looked up her plate of waffles to see Piper standing in the doorway to the kitchen, a curious look on her face.

"What's up?" Paige asked, as her sister sat down across from her at the small table.

"Didn't you have a date, last night?" Piper asked. "George something-or-other? The accountant you've been seeing for the last month?"

"It's been two weeks," Paige corrected her. "And, yes, I did have a date with George last night."

Piper nodded, slowly. "Then, why," she asked, slowly, "did I see Henry coming out of the upstairs bathroom this morning? Wearing one of Leo's shirts and jeans from the ex-boyfriend box, I might add."

"He's going to wash and return the clothes," Paige protested, flapping a hand at Piper.

"That is not the question I asked," Piper said, pointedly. Crossing her arms and staring directly at her youngest sister, she added, "Come on. Spill."

"Okay, fine," Paige grumbled. "So, George got reservations at this little Italian place, Capurro's, down by the Wharf-"

"I love that place," Piper gushed. "Leo and I went there for our second real date, and they've got the best crab-"

"Excuse me," Paige interrupted her, chuckling, "who's telling the story here? You or me?"

"Sorry," Piper apologized. "Go on."

"_Anyway_," Paige said, pointedly, "we were at dinner, and we were having a nice time, except for this woman a few tables over who was giving me the stink eye."

"That's creepy," Piper commented, and Paige laughed.

"You have no idea," she told her. "And, so this crazy woman, who's been eying George and me the whole night, comes storming over to our table right as the waiter sets our food on the table."

Paige paused in the middle of her recitation, taking a healthy swig of coffee. Piper gestured at her impatiently to continue.

"So," Paige went on, while Piper tapped her fingernails pointedly on the counter, "she storms over, and she throws George's drink in his face. And then she's screaming, and he's screaming, and it turns out that she's his wife."

"Ouch," Piper said, sympathetically, although she was unable to stop the laughter that escaped.

"Oh, it gets worse," Paige told her. "Because, while George and his crazy wife are screaming at each other in front of a crowded restaurant, her date comes out of the restroom and comes over to see what's going on."

"And it's Henry," Piper guessed, and Paige nodded, a wry smile twisting at her lips.

"And it's Henry," she confirmed. "That great woman he's been talking about is the same person who's married to the cheating jerk I've been dating for the last two weeks."

"You know," Piper deadpanned, "I think I saw this exact same plot on _Jerry Springer_, last week."

"What are you doing watching _Jerry Springer_?" Paige asked.

"I'm eight months pregnant, and stuck on bed rest because you and Phoebe won't let me do anything," Piper grumbled at her. "You're practically running the club for me most nights, which I can't thank you enough for, and you and Phoebe have taken over all demon-related matters, which means that I have nothing to do but sit on the couch, eat bon-bons, and watch trashy television. And since I refuse to get sucked into a soap opera, my choices for daytime television are limited."

"Okay, you know what?" Paige told her. "I am enabling the parental locks on the television. Otherwise, my unborn niece is going to come out of the womb chanting, 'Jerry, Jerry!'-"

"Oh, you're exaggerating," Piper scoffed. "Come on. Get to the part where Henry winds up in our shower."

Paige rolled her eyes, but complied. "Well, since it looked like George and his wife were going to keep yelling at each other for a while, Henry and I got our food in to-go boxes, paid our tabs, and went down to the Wharf to eat dinner with the sea lions. And by the time we realized how late it was, it was after midnight, and Henry didn't want to drive back to his place, especially since the hot water's on the fritz, so he spent the night."

"In your room?" Piper asked, a too-innocent expression on her face.

"Well, I wasn't going to make him sleep on the couch," Paige started, but then she stopped when Piper started laughing, uproariously. She waited for her sister to stop laughing, and then she crossed her arms and waited some more. "Okay, are you done?"

"Almost," Piper said, still laughing, and then finally she stopped, wiping tears from her eyes. "Okay, I'm done. I swear. Seriously, though, why do you and Henry keep dating other people? It never works out for either of you."

"You and Prue," Paige grumbled at her. "You know, she tried matchmaking me and Henry, too."

"Yeah, and maybe you should have listened," Piper retorted. "Paige, it's like the whole universe is screaming that you two belong together."

"No," Paige corrected her, "the universe is screaming about Phoebe and Cole, the way she keeps getting pulled to him when she sleeps. Henry and I are barely getting a whimper. And we are not interested in each other."

"So," Piper asked, drawing the word out, "you spent a platonic night together in the same bed?"

"Yes," Paige said, flatly, ignoring the incredulous look from her older sister. "That is exactly what – Phoebe?"

She broke off at the sight of Phoebe stumbling into the kitchen. Her eyes were wild, her hair was flying all over the place, and there were long, bloody furrows running the length of her arms. Paige bolted upright from her seat, pushing Phoebe down in her abandoned chair and hovering over her as she healed her arms.

"What happened?" Piper demanded, while Paige worked. "Phoebe, was there a demon? Were you attacked?"

"No," Phoebe said, her voice shaking. "I mean, yes, I mean-"

"Hey," Paige broke in, soothingly. "Slow down, okay? Tell us what happened."

"It's Cole and Josh," Phoebe told her, a pleading look in her eyes as she stared at Paige, and Paige jerked in surprise. She hadn't heard that name in over six months, not since – "They're in trouble," Phoebe continued, cutting into Paige's thoughts. "I saw it. I was there."

"What kind of trouble?" Piper asked. "Phoebe, where are they?"

"It's a new universe," Phoebe replied, taking a deep breath to try and control herself. "It's really similar to ours, as a matter of fact."

"How similar?" Paige asked, when Phoebe hesitated for a moment, thinking about her answer.

"_Really_ similar," she stressed. "There was – there was another Cole, there," she told her sisters. "He died. We tried to save him, but we couldn't."

"Oh, honey," Piper said, sympathetically. "I'm so sorry."

"There was another me, there, too," Phoebe went on, quietly. "She was evil. And she was pissed that her Cole was dead. And she thought that mine was responsible, because she told him that she was going to take everyone he cared about. And then she had her demonic minions kidnap me and Josh. Only, I woke up before I could see where he was – my little boy is in that crazy bitch's hands, and I can't-"

"You will," Piper interrupted her, firmly. "_We_ will, Pheebs. We are going to find Cole, and your little boy, and we are going to bring them home. I promise."

"How?" Phoebe asked, wiping at the tears that slid slowly down her face.

"How else?" Paige asked, wryly. "Magic."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. And virtual cookies to anyone who can correctly guess the unnamed characters in the second half of the chapter. (Hint: there are three of them, but only two appear in person)

* * *

"I found this spell on one of my perusals of the Book," Paige explained, as they walked upstairs to the attic, "I don't even think we need to adapt it; with the right intent, it should bring us straight to Cole and your son."

The pages of the Book were already flipping by themselves as they entered the attic, and Piper shot Phoebe an encouraging grin.

"See?" she told her. "Even Prue wants you to get Cole back."

"To find a lost love," Phoebe read, looking at the entry that the Book was lying open to. "Paige, are you sure this spell is going to work?"

"I've done nothing for the past five months but immerse myself completely in magic, and I'm like a walking Wiccan encyclopedia," Paige told her, dryly. "Trust me; this is the spell we need."

"Well, okay, then," Phoebe said. Looking at her sisters, she asked, "What are we waiting for? Let's go."

"Wait a minute," Piper said. "Let's take a minute, figure out what we're getting into." When Phoebe glared at her, Piper held up a hand and stopped her before she could say anything. "Look, I want to rescue Cole and Josh just as much as you do. But, we aren't going to do either of them any good if we charge in there without any information and get ourselves killed."

"Piper's right, Pheebs," Paige said, gently. "We need to know what we're up against. I mean, you said that your alternate self was evil. Well, are we talking warlock, Fury, or like a really bad case of PMS?"

"Try Queen of the Underworld," Phoebe told them, nodding grimly at the dismayed looks on her sisters' faces. "Yeah, and she was ordering around demons, too. I think, maybe, in that world I stayed the Source's Queen."

"Except that would mean that Cole was still the Source," Paige reminded her, "and you said that he'd been killed. Was there anything extraordinary about the demons who were attacking him?"

"No," Phoebe answered. "They were just common, hive-mind demons. They were hunting in a pack, so I doubt they were Upper-Level demons."

"Okay, how does the Source of all Evil get taken out by a pack of bottom feeders?" Paige asked, confused.

"Maybe he'd been hurt in an earlier attack," Piper pointed out. "Phoebe, what else did you see? Were Paige and I there?"

"Everything happened so fast," Phoebe replied, sounding frustrated. "I didn't have time to see anything; I was just trying to protect-"

"Your son," Paige finished for her, when Phoebe broke off with a choked sob. "We're going to get them back, Phoebe. I swear."

"I know," Phoebe said, shakily. "I just – I'm scared. They're my family."

"They're our family, too," Piper told her. Turning to Paige, she asked, "Did you and your super-witch kick happen to stock up the potions supply?"

Paige nodded. "We've got some standard explosives, stunners, and a couple flash bangs."

"What's a flash bang?" Phoebe asked.

"Blinds anyone in the vicinity for up to ten seconds," Paige explained. She orbed down to the kitchen, stuffed the potions they needed in a small, mesh bag, and orbed back up to the attic. "I want a bag of holding," she informed her sisters, firmly. "Maybe we could take a battleaxe or two."

"Yeah," Piper snorted. "You figure out a spell that doesn't invoke the personal gain clause, and I'll get all over it."

"Don't think I won't," Paige muttered under her breath, slinging the bag securely on her shoulders.

"All right," Phoebe interrupted them, impatiently. "Are we ready? Can we go?"

"In a minute," Piper said. "So, are we assuming that Phoebe's alternate self stayed the Source's queen, and that Paige's and my alternate selves are still fighting to free her?"

"Given what little I saw," Phoebe replied, "it's a fair assumption."

"All right," Piper said, "then I think we should aim for the attic with our spell. With any luck, Paige and I still have control of the Manor, and it'll be easier to reason with our alternate selves than with Phoebe's." To Paige, she added, "This spell of yours, is it going to bring us to the other universe physically, or by astral projection?"

"Could be either," Paige admitted, running through the spell in her mind. "The original intent was for astral projection, and it could still work out that way, no matter what our intent."

Piper nodded. "Leo!" she called out, and a bright swirl of orbs heralded her husband's arrival. Piper quickly summarized what was going on, ending with, "So, if we astral project out, we need you to keep an eye on our bodies, but if we're physically gone, then I need you to open up the club, tonight."

"And call Elise and tell her that I'm sick," Phoebe added, hastily. "I can't afford to lose my job, not with a husband and son to support."

"P3 and the paper," Leo said, "Got it. Paige, anything?"

"Just the usual," Paige told him, with a sad smile, and Leo nodded.

After they'd vanquished the Source the first time, and she'd seen how upset her goodbye voicemail had left Henry, Paige had sat down and written him a long letter, just in case the worst happened and she didn't have time to talk to him in person. Leo knew where the letter was hidden, and he'd agreed to give it to Henry if there came a time that she didn't come back from a fight. Paige sincerely hoped that she never had to use it.

"Let's go," Piper said, pulling her out of her thoughts, and the three of them crowded around the Book, holding hands so as not to be separated.

_"Wither my love,  
Wherever they be,  
Through time and space,  
Bring my heart nearer to thee."_

The attic filled with light, obscuring their vision, and Paige squeezed her sisters' hands tighter. The light grew to a crescendo, and when it vanished, they'd disappeared from the attic.

* * *

Josh stared in horror at his-mom-who-wasn't-his-mom. The woman with the dark hair and the blood-red lips was staring at him like he was a speck of dirt under her boots, and Josh fought the urge to cringe away from the woman's icy gaze. When he'd told his mom that he knew what evil felt like, he thought he'd been telling the truth. But, what he remembered as evil was nothing compared to the dark, yawning pit of the woman's soul.

_'Mom, Dad, where are you?'_ he thought, more scared than he ever remembered being, before in his life. _"Help me, I need you.'_

"No one's going to help you, little boy," the woman said, suddenly, her voice harsh, and Josh shivered at the realization that she'd read his mind.

"I don't understand why you took the little brat in the first place," a new voice said, in a bored tone, and Josh looked away from the first woman to see another, with long dark hair, watching him with a disinterested air. "What are you even going to do with him?"

"Torture him," the first woman said, with a shrug. "I only took the brat in the first place because his parents killed Cole."

"And that might actually mean something," the second woman said, "if Cole hadn't left you six months ago."

"Cole is mine," the first woman growled, her eyes flashing dangerously. "No one gets to take him away from me, especially not some do-gooder doppelgangers. But, since they did, I'm going to take what they care about," she added, glancing dismissively over at Josh, who was still cowering in the corner of the dark cavern. "I'd still have his mother, as well, if your idiot guards could _do their job_." The last was said in a snarled tone that had Josh pressing even further into the stone behind him.

A pair of demons lurking in the doorway cringed at the way her voice rose in anger, both of the clearly expecting to be vanquished any second. Josh knew how they felt; he was still expecting to see a fireball to come winging his way at any moment.

"My Lady," one of the cringing demons stammered, nervously, not daring to meet her fierce gaze. "Seer, we don't – the witch just disappeared-"

"Yes, yes," the Seer sneered, waving her hand at the demons. "Spare me your pathetic excuses, and be grateful that I am sparing your lives."

"Thank you, Seer," both demons said, quickly, talking over each other in their haste to be heard, and the second woman snorted in derision.

"Out, both of you," she ordered, sharply. "I'll call you when you're needed, again."

"My liege," the first demon said, respectfully, as both of them bowed low to the women and quickly left the cavern.

"You," the second woman said, looking over at the first, "are obsessed with Cole."

"You're hardly one to talk," the Seer said, a lofty tone in her voice. "Who was it took over the Underworld and became the new Source just because she got into a snit?"

"We were betrayed," the Source snarled, softly, her hands clenching into tight fists. "We gave her _life_, gave her a second chance, and she turned on us. And I am going to hunt her down and make her pay for it!" Her voice rang through the cavern, the small space falling into silence after she'd finished.

"You're all heart," the Seer said, dryly.

"Back to my original question," the Source drawled, "now that you've got the boy, what are you going to do with him?"

"You have an idea?" the Seer asked, and Josh swallowed nervously as the Source looked over at him, her cold eyes raking over him, quickly.

"Kill the boy and dump his body somewhere his parents are going to find him," she suggested, nonchalantly. "If these people really are alternate versions of you and Cole, seeing their son's dead body will kill them. It would have you, once upon a time."

The Seer actually growled at the Source, and Josh caught a flash of fury, bright and hot, from the woman. At the brief psychic burst from the woman, he cautiously pressed further into her mind, catching flickers of a trio of women smiling and laughing, of a too-still body lying in a coffin, of tears, and blood, and grief-

Josh tore himself out of the Seer's mind before she could catch him snooping. He was in enough trouble as it was; the last thing he needed was for her to find him poking around in her memories. Especially with her humanity burning at her like it was.

He looked up to see the Seer glaring furiously at the Source, her hands practically shaking, and then she flamed out of the cavern without a word. The Source laughed, a cold, hollow sound, and then she looked down at Josh.

"I guess killing you is going to be a last option," she informed him. "Your lucky day, boy."

Then, she turned and strode out of the cavern, barking a sharp word at the demons hovering outside the entrance. Josh felt his heart sink as the demons jumped to cover the entrance, effectively blocking any chance he might have had for an escape. He curled up against the wall, dragging his knees up against his chest and staring forlornly at the corridor beyond the demons.

_'Mom,'_ he thought, fighting the urge to burst into tears, _'Dad, please help me.'_


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** You'll find out the identity of the third mysterious person at the end of this chapter.

* * *

If she'd had her choice, Paige would have much rather orbed into the alternate universe's Manor, rather than been transported there by a spell. Her sisters insisted that there wasn't a difference, but Paige knew differently. Orbing just felt different than other means of magical transportation, familiar in a way that the others weren't. She knew, instinctually, how her body moved through space after being broken down into light photons, knew how she was going to land. It was as integral a part of her as breathing.

But, with the other methods, there was none of that certainty. She'd travelled by flame, once, when Cole had been possessed by the Source, and had been trying to torture her into insanity. And aside from the naturally-bad associations that came from any memories of that time, she'd never managed to get over the feeling that she was being burned alive. When possessed by Isis, she'd travelled with Jeric in a whirlwind that had felt like she was being ripped apart. And, spells made her nervous because there was always the chance that a single, mispronounced syllable was going to have her emerging from the ether with her nose sticking out of her shoulder.

Not to mention, other methods of teleportation left her with her head spinning, a disorientation that always took a couple of seconds to shake off. And those couple of seconds nearly cost them their lives.

She caught a flash of something out of the corner of her eye, and she reacted instinctively, grabbing Piper and bodily shoving her pregnant sister behind her. Then, her vision cleared and she saw a huge, hulking demon standing in the middle of the attic.

"Whitelighter!" the demon spit at her, an enraged look on his face.

He summoned an energy ball into the palm of his hand, and from behind Paige, Piper flicked her hands out to blow him up. Then, she stared in confusion from her hands to the still-intact demon.

"What the hell?" she muttered, stunned.

"Energy ball!" Paige snapped, and then she blinked in shock when nothing happened. "Oh, shit."

She wrapped a hand around Piper's arm, dragging her to the ground. Phoebe, next to them, had also hit the floor, her palms smacking into the floor with a painful thud as she caught herself. Paige lunged toward Phoebe as she saw the demon forming another energy ball in his hand, and without letting go of Piper, snagged Phoebe's sleeve and orbed them out of the attic.

They rematerialized in a dark room, and Paige blinked as her eyes adjusted, realizing that they were in the back room of P3. Or, at least what used to be P3's back room. From the layers of grime that covered every surface, it was clear that no one had been there in a while.

"It looks like a tornado hit in here," Phoebe commented, as they stood up and picked their way across the debris littering the floor.

"Maybe in the alternate universe, Piper's a slob," Paige teased, lightly, grabbing the doorknob and pulling the door open. Then, they stepped out into the main part of the club, staring in amazement at the utter disrepair that the nightclub had fallen into.

"What happened to my club?" Piper shrieked, and Paige winced, covering her ears with her hands.

"Tone it down a little," she suggested, as they made their way out onto the dance floor, in front of the stage. Piper stared at the hole in the middle of the stage, and then she whirled around to take in all the damage.

"How – why – what?" she spluttered, indignantly.

"Nouns, sweetie," Phoebe spoke up, as she righted a couple of chairs and dusted them off. "Nouns are our friends."

"And verbs, and adjectives-" Paige added, ducking when Piper grabbed a chunk of drywall off the bar and chucked it at her. "Okay, seriously, chill."

"You chill," Piper groused at her, grumpily. "Look at my club!"

"To be fair," Phoebe pointed out, "this isn't really your club. We're in an alternate universe."

"I don't care," Piper told her. "Alternate universe or not, I would never walk away from P3. I'd have to be dead, or evil, or – scratch that last one. Even evil needs money, and the club is doing pretty good, these days. It would probably make a pretty good cover-"

"Would you focus?" Paige sighed, in irritation. "I think we have some more important matters than your club in ruins."

"Like what?" Piper muttered under her breath, looking mournfully around the club.

"How about getting you out of here?" Paige replied. When Piper shot her a sharp look, Paige went on. "You don't have any powers. That means the baby doesn't have any powers."

"That means you're not invincible, anymore," Phoebe realized, a horrified look crossing her face.

"And we're not putting you and the baby in danger," Paige finished for her. "You, missy, are going home. Phoebe and I can do this alone."

"What if you need the Power of Three?" Piper asked, a challenging note in her voice.

"Well, then we're screwed, with or without you," Phoebe shot back. "Because, we don't have the Power of Three, either way. Paige is right. We're getting you and your daughter out of here, back where you'll be safe."

"What we?" Paige muttered, under her breath, shooting Phoebe a look. "You don't have any powers, either."

"All right, fine," Phoebe retorted. "This is your show." She gestured, expansively, at Piper. "Have fun."

Paige stuck her tongue out at Phoebe, and then frowned as she looked back at Piper. Snatches of spells ran quickly through her mind, but she wasn't sure what she should use. The spell they'd used to bring themselves to the alternate universe had a specific counter, but it was also meant to be performed in a specific way. The reversal spell was meant to be cast by someone on the other side, not by the person who'd used the original spell. But, maybe with some tweaking…

"Return to home," she muttered, trying to see how the words sounded. "No longer roam-"

"What are you doing?" Phoebe asked, and Paige shot her a sharp look.

"Brainstorming," she retorted. "Shush." She paced a small circuit as she ran through different lines in her mind, seeing what worked and what didn't. After a few minutes, she thought she might have something. "All right, let's do this."

"That was quick," Phoebe commented.

"Walking Wiccan encyclopedia," Paige reminded her. "Piper, you ready?"

"To leave you guys alone to face God only knows what?" Piper asked, rhetorically. "No, and I think splitting us up like this is stupid."

"Your opinion is noted," Paige replied. "However, as the two of you have delighted in reminding me over the last year and a half, majority rules. You've been outvoted, and you're just going to have to deal with it." Turning to face Piper, Paige took a moment to clear her mind, and then she started chanting her revised spell.

_"Return my love,  
To the place called home.  
Through time and space,  
No longer may she roam."_

Glowing, white lights obscured Piper from view, but when they faded, she was still standing there. Paige scowled, chanting the spell again, before anyone could say anything. Still nothing.

"Okay," Phoebe said, into the silence that followed, "I guess you're not going home, after all."

"I don't get it," Paige groused. "That's a good spell. It's concise, it's specific-"

"Sweetie, there are any number of reasons that spell didn't work," Phoebe said, consolingly. "We're in an alternate universe, you're under stress, and like it or not, your powers aren't at one hundred percent, either. You couldn't orb that knife in the attic, remember?"

"But you could still orb us," Piper realized, slowly. "Why? If we don't have any powers, how do you still have yours?"

"Well," Phoebe suggested, "I don't know if it works the same way, but when we went back to the past, our younger selves had powers, but we didn't. We figured that it was because only one version of us could have powers at the same time, remember?"

"So, what?" Paige asked, confused. "I don't exist in this universe? I'm dead?"

"I'm sure there's another explanation," Piper said, hastily. "I mean, where would you be? No, there's got to be some other reason you've got powers. Maybe your other self doesn't have _her_ powers, or something."

"That still doesn't explain the discrepancy in her powers, though," Phoebe pointed out.

"Yeah, it does," Paige replied. "Whitelighter versus witch," she told her obviously-baffled sisters. "I've had my Whitelighter powers, or orbing at least, for years. But I didn't really start the witch stuff until I met you guys. At least not my telekinesis."

"That's it, then," Piper declared, triumphantly. "You never reunited with us, therefore you never got your witch powers – which explains why you couldn't send me home. You weren't casting spells before you met us, either."

"But, if alternate-Paige is still alive," Phoebe interrupted, "then how does our Paige still have her powers? If there are two Paiges walking around-"

"You're ruining my theory," Piper sniped, glaring at Phoebe. "Paige is not dead, all right? She just isn't. I won't accept anything else."

"I'm just saying," Phoebe muttered, but she subsided at a dark look from Piper. "Okay, so that's one question partially answered. Next question, why are there demons in the Manor?"

"Well," Piper said, "the most logical answer is that Cole and Phoebe – the evil versions, at any rate – took over the Manor to gain control over the Nexus."

"What Nexus?" Paige asked. "I read in the Book about nexuses being places of spiritual power-"

"And the house is sitting right on top of the strongest one in San Francisco," Piper finished for her.

"And there's a demon that lives inside," Phoebe added, "but, don't worry, we're safe so long as Good controls the Nexus, and no one releases the demon."

Paige stared at her sisters in disbelief. "Neither of you," she said slowly, "could think to mention this at any time during the last year and a half? What, the fact that a dangerous magical entity lives under the house just wasn't relevant?"

"We're sorry," Phoebe muttered, sheepishly. "You're right, demons in the house are kind of a need-to-know situation."

"Kind of?" Paige repeated, incredulously, but she was willing to let the matter drop. For now, anyway.

"Okay, well, Phoebe and Cole are in control of the Manor; that still doesn't explain where you and I are," Piper spoke up, to Paige.

"Hopefully," Paige answered, "holed up somewhere, fighting Phoebe. No offense, honey," she added, glancing over at her sister.

"None taken," Phoebe reassured her. "No, you're probably right."

"Well, right or not," Piper said, "we're never going to figure anything out just standing here. We need to get out there, and we need to get some answers."

"And then we need to find Cole and Josh," Phoebe said. "No matter what else, I want my husband and my son back."

"And we're going to get them back," Piper told her, immediately.

"Yeah," Paige echoed. "No matter what, Pheebs, Cole and Josh are coming home with us. No matter what."

* * *

After they left the club, the three of them headed for the precinct where Darryl worked. If they couldn't get answers from the Manor, and from their alternate selves (and Leo wasn't answering their calls), then they'd get answers from Darryl and Henry.

The precinct was noisy and crowded, and Paige could barely hear herself think. She hung back as Piper and Phoebe went to the front desk to ask about Darryl, looking around to see if she could see Henry. She looked for him in the crush of bodies moving around the bullpen, but she didn't see him. What she did see was his picture on the wall, and she moved across the room, a sinking feeling growing in her gut as she took in the rest of the pictures.

Each neatly-framed picture had a name matted underneath, and a range of dates. Paige's eyes flicked across the pictures, taking in names that she remembered Henry talking about, names of officers that had fallen in the line of duty. Then, slowly, reluctantly, she looked at Henry's picture.

_'Officer Henry Mitchell. August 5, 1977 – May 21, 2001'_

Paige blinked back a sudden rush of tears, trailing her fingers lightly across the glass covering Henry's picture. She could feel herself shaking, and she bit down, hard, on the inside of her cheek to keep herself under control. When a hand dropped onto her shoulder, she jumped, turning around to see Piper and Phoebe standing behind her.

"Darryl's out on a case," Piper started, but then she stopped, taking in the look on Paige's face. "What's wrong?"

"Piper, look at the picture," Phoebe said, before Paige could reply.

Piper looked, and then a sympathetic expression flashed across her face. "Oh, sweetie," she said, quietly, "I'm so sorry."

"I guess you were right about me being gone," Paige told her, trying to muster up a weak smile. "Because I would die before I let anything happen to Henry, and he's-"

She broke off, unable to finish her sentence, and Piper wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry," she repeated, as Paige clung to her, briefly.

"Thanks," Paige replied, scrubbing at the tears on her cheeks to dry them. "Um, did you guys find Darryl?"

"He's working on a case," Phoebe told her. "The desk sergeant gave us an address. Are you ready-"

"Let's get out of here," Paige said, hastily, turning away from the wall of photos.

The three of them went outside the station, ducking into the alley along the side of the building. Paige slung her arms over Piper and Phoebe's shoulders, orbing them to the address that Phoebe had gotten. Piper gave her a sidelong look when they materialized in the middle of a sidewalk, but Paige just shot her a reassuring smile when a uniformed officer passed by them without even blinking.

"Leo taught me a Whitelighter's trick for orbing to a charge in public," she explained. "No one's going to be able to see or hear us for a couple of seconds."

"Handy," Phoebe commented, as they set off down the street toward where Darryl was supposed to be. "So, Darryl's supposed to be investigating a woman who was murdered in her apartment. Here," she added, nodding at the building in front of them.

They went inside the building, riding the elevator to the third floor where Darryl was. The door to apartment three-eighteen was wide open, and they could hear voices coming from inside the apartment.

"-shouldn't be here! I don't care if you can help me with this case."

"Don't be so stubborn, Darryl. There's no one else around; who's going to see me?"

Paige froze at the sound of the familiar, beloved voice. She looked over at Piper and Phoebe, seeing the same, shocked looks on their faces that she was sure had to be reflected on hers.

"It can't be," Piper whispered, staring at the open doorway.

Slowly, they crept forward and peered into the apartment. They could see Darryl standing over a large bloodstain in the beige carpet. A woman with long, dark hair was beside him, her back to the doorway. The pair was still arguing, and the woman turned toward Darryl, her face coming into profile as she moved, and Paige could feel her breath catch in her throat.

"Oh, my god," Piper said, from beside her, a stunned look on her face. "Prue?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** For everyone wondering when Pax was going to show up in the story again, you're getting your wish. And while this Pax is an alternate version of Paige's daughter, she has gone through the same things, and been raised the same way, and they are essentially the same person, right now. If you have any further questions about her character, PM me or ask in your review and I'll try to answer them the best I can (without giving away any of the fun parts, of course).

* * *

Josh stared grimly at the doorway that had been guarded by demons nearly every moment since his capture a week ago. _Nearly_ every moment, because there'd been a few seconds after he'd first been left alone in the cavern when both guards had left their posts to deal with something that wasn't him, and Josh had taken advantage of their absence to make a break for it. He'd gotten almost a hundred yards down the corridor before he'd been caught, again, and dragged kicking and screaming back to his makeshift prison.

His guards had warned him not to try making another escape, had knocked him around and left bruises to show just how serious they were. And Josh had gotten the message. He'd stuck to the small cavern and hadn't tried again to get out the door. Instead, he'd sat, and waited, and bided his time until they slipped up again. Because they would; he was sure of it. He just had to be ready when it happened.

During the last week, the guards had kept him from escaping the cavern, but other than that, and delivering him food three times a day, they'd left him to his own devices. There was some kind of magical shield around the cavern, a force that kept him from using his magic; it hadn't stopped the demons from using _their_ powers, although they certainly hadn't needed them to keep him in line. But, they'd trusted that the force field had been all that was needed to keep him docile. It apparently hadn't occurred to anyone that they were leaving him in a cavern filled with very sharp shards of rock, as well as other potential weapons.

_'Probably, they just don't see me as a threat,'_ Josh thought, idly, as he toyed with one of the rocks that he'd gathered.

Not that he really blamed them. For all his planning, he honestly had no idea what he was going to do if any kind of opportunity for escape actually presented itself. What little he knew of fighting from his scattered memories from the Source was nothing compared to the combined centuries of experience possessed by his guards. And, even if by some miracle, he managed to get away from his guards, he still had no way of getting out of the Underworld. If he'd inherited some kind of teleporting ability from his father when he'd been possessed by the Source of All Evil, he had yet to manifest it.

_'No wonder they don't have to work very hard to guard me,'_ he thought, hunching miserably in on himself. _'I'm trapped here, no matter what.'_

A sound near the entrance to the cavern jolted him suddenly out of his thoughts, and he could hear voices from the entrance. That wasn't unusual; his guards passed the time talking to each other, although rarely to him. What was unusual was that one of the voices was new – and sounded like a young girl.

Abandoning his rock, Josh crept forward toward the entrance to the cavern. He could see the hulking forms of his guards blocking the way, and then just beyond them, a third pair of legs, smaller and slimmer than the other two. Josh moved until he could see past one of the guards, to a short figure with long brown hair facing the demons.

"I want to go in there," the girl was saying, an imperious tone in her voice.

One of the demons laughed, a dark, rumbling sound that sent chills through Josh. "What makes you think that we're going to let you go anywhere, little girl?" he asked, derisively.

"I want to go in there," the girl repeated, insistently, "and you can't stop me."

"Listen to the brat," the second demon sneered. "Thinks she's so tough. Maybe we should toss her in with the other one, a little present for the Source."

"You could," the girl said, the sing-song tone in her voice indicating that she wasn't the least bit daunted by their threats. "Of course, if you lay a hand on me, my father and my grandmother are going to come down here and rip you into very tiny pieces. You do know my grandmother, don't you? The only demon that your precious Source still fears."

"You dare-" the first demon snarled, furiously, but the girl just laughed.

"Move out of my way, and my grandmother will never hear of your disrespect," she said, quietly, and this time the demons moved aside to let her enter the cavern. She was smiling as she came inside.

Josh scrambled backward, trying to get back to his usual spot before the demon saw him. The girl saw, though, but her smile only got bigger when she saw him moving. She smirked at him as she placed a finger exaggeratedly on her lips, a soft giggle escaping as she dropped down onto the ground in front of him.

"Stupid lackeys," she confided in him, rolling her eyes back at the guards, who had stationed themselves back in front of the entrance. "They don't have any brains of their own, only what the Source grants them. When I take over the Underworld, their kind will be the first vanquished."

"Who-" Josh started, but his voice cracked, painfully dry with fear. "Who are you?" he managed to force out in a whisper.

"I'm Paxton," the girl introduced herself, holding out her hand for him to shake, an oddly formal gesture that was at odds with the smile on her face. "And you are?"

"Josh," he whispered. "My name is Josh."

"What are you doing down here?" Paxton asked, looking around the cavern in confusion. "You're a kid. What's the Source want with you?"

"She – she wants-" Josh started, but then he trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

His hands were shaking as he thought about what the Source had threatened to do to him, what the Seer had planned for his parents. He wanted to crawl into a corner and be violently sick, but he'd done too much of that in the beginning of his captivity, and he wasn't getting enough food to waste any of it on throwing up. Drawing his knees up to his chest, he started rocking in place, the Source's deadly threats running through his head, over and over.

"Hey," Paxton said, and he jerked wildly when she placed a hand hesitantly on his shoulder. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"She wants to kill me," Josh whispered, risking a quick glance over at the girl before going back and staring at the ground. "She wants to kill my family."

"Why?" Paxton demanded, and Josh shook his head, tears springing to his eyes.

"They think that my dad killed someone," he told her, "but he didn't! My dad is a good man. He wouldn't kill anyone!"

"I believe you," Paxton said, after a moment, and Josh looked up at her, hope filling his chest.

"You do?" he asked, softly. When she nodded, he went on, "Can – can you help me get out of here? I want to go home. Can you help me?"

The brief flare of hope died when Paxton quickly shook her head, a fearful expression crossing her face. "Cross the Source? No – no, I can't-"

"But, you said that the Source is afraid of your family," Josh pressed, insistently. "That they would rip anyone apart who tried to hurt you."

Paxton shook her head, again, letting out a bitter laugh. "My grandmother would only act because of the insult to our family's honor," she told him, quietly. "She doesn't care about me. She only cares about her legacy."

"But, you said-" Josh insisted, drawing another bitter laugh from the girl.

"I do that, sometimes," she told him twisting her hands together, nervously. "I use their fear of my family to get what I want. My father and grandmother don't care, so long as I don't actually insult anyone, or start something I can't finish. They hate having to clean up my messes."

"They don't love you?" Josh asked, barely able to comprehend the idea. "What about your mom? Doesn't she love you?"

Something dark flashed quickly across Paxton's face, so fast that he almost thought that he'd imagined it. "My mother abandoned us," she said, her voice trembling slightly as she spoke, even though she tried to hide it. "She was weak, and she left us. Would she do that if she loved me?"

"I'm sorry," Josh said, sympathetically. Risking a quick glance at the still guards, just outside the cavern, he added, "Come with me. My family would take you in. And they really would rip apart anyone who tried to hurt us." Paxton shook her head, but Josh pressed on. "I come from a better world than this one. You can come with me."

"I can't," Paxton whispered, shaking her head, and Josh could see tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry. I can't-"

Breaking off, she bolted to her feet and fled from the cavern, pushing past the demons guarding the entrance. Josh watched her go, his heart sinking in his chest.

"Please come back," he whispered, too quietly for the demons to hear him. "Paxton, I'm sorry. Don't leave me here, alone."

But, there was no answer. The girl was gone, and he was all alone.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys rock.

* * *

As she stared at Prue, beautiful, whole, _alive_, Paige felt her knees go weak. She clutched Phoebe's arm in a painful grip, felt Piper hanging onto her shoulder, and spared a brief moment to wonder just who was holding who up. Beside her, Piper stepped in front of her, toward Prue, an expression of hope and painful longing plain on her face.

Prue turned around at the sound of her name, her eyes narrowing when she saw them standing in the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, harshly, and Paige could feel Piper stiffen next to her.

"Prue-" she started, but the older woman cut her off, sharply.

"Don't Prue me," she snarled, her eyes flashing with fury. "Is this your handiwork? Did you come back to gloat, or something?"

"What the hell are you talking about, Prue?" Phoebe asked, incredulously, moving forward to stand beside Piper.

That left Paige exposed, and when Prue saw her, she went completely white, and her hands started shaking.

"Let her go," she said, her voice coming out in a low growl as she stepped toward Paige. "I don't know why you're here, or what you want, but Paige is not a part of it. Just let her go."

"What?" Phoebe asked, glancing automatically back at Paige, and Prue took that moment of distraction to wave her hand at Phoebe, sending her flying across the room to crash into the couch and disappear over the back. "Ow," Phoebe muttered, from out of sight.

"Damn it, Prue!" Piper yelped, staring at her older sister in disbelief. "What the hell?"

In answer, Prue raised her hand again, this time aiming at Piper. Paige quickly pushed Piper behind her, standing between Prue and Piper as a shield. To her relief, Prue faltered as soon as Paige moved in front of Piper, and Paige breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

"Prue?" she said, cautiously, "What'cha doing?"

"Paige, run," Prue said, her eyes never leaving Piper's face. "Just get out of here, I'll hold them off."

"I'm not going anywhere until we figure out what's going on," Paige said, firmly, and then her eyes flicked from Prue to Darryl, where he had his gun trained squarely on Phoebe. "And, would you please put that away?"

"Yeah," Phoebe spoke up, a tiny tremor in her voice. "Guns make me nervous."

"And you two make me nervous!" Prue snapped, drawing their attention back to her. "Paige, get away from them. I don't know what you remember-"

"I remember that these are my sisters-" Paige started, and from behind her, she heard Piper let out an impatient sigh.

"Oh, this is ridiculous," she huffed, pushing Paige out of the way and glaring furiously at Prue. "What the hell is your problem, Prue?"

Paige hastily grabbed Piper and pulled her back, again. "No powers, remember?" she said, pointedly. "That means the baby, too."

"And so I'm supposed to use you as a human shield?" Piper demanded.

"Yes!" Paige told her.

"Hello!" Prue snapped, sharply, and Paige turned to face her oldest sister, again. "What are you two doing?"

"They're bickering," Phoebe spoke up, helpfully, from across the room. "They do it all the time."

Prue looked between the three of them, incredulously, like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Then, her gaze landed on Piper again, and she blinked, like she was actually looking at her for the first time.

"Are you pregnant?" she finally demanded.

"You just now noticed?" Piper asked, a sarcastic tone in her voice.

"I think she just now noticed," Paige said, softly, getting a smirk from Piper.

"You're pregnant," Prue repeated, stunned, as she stared at Piper. "How are you pregnant?"

"Well," Phoebe said, in a sing-song voice, "Piper and Leo love each other very much-"

"I got that, thank you," Prue muttered, waspishly. Looking between Piper and Phoebe she said, "Then, you're not my Piper. And you're not my Phoebe."

"Which is what we were trying to tell you," Piper told her, "before you started throwing us around like rag dolls."

Prue ignored her, looking instead at Paige. Something indescribably sad flashed across her face. "You're not my Paige," she said, softly, and Paige shook her head.

"I'm sorry," she said, and Prue smiled at her, sadly.

"When I saw you," she said, quietly, "I thought – it was foolish, really. I thought I'd gotten you back. Who are you?" she asked, her voice scratchy. "If you're not my sisters – who are you?"

"Can he put that gun down, first?" Piper asked, and Paige followed her gaze to see that Darryl still had his weapon trained on Phoebe, his eyes flicking uncertainly between all of them.

"It's okay, Darryl," Prue told him, but the older man didn't look convinced.

"You sure?" he asked, cautiously. "The last time-"

"I remember the last time," Prue interrupted him, gently. "It's not them. It's okay, really."

Darryl sighed, finally clicking the safety back on his gun and replacing it in his holster. "Don't say I didn't warn you if this is some kind of trick," he muttered. "And, I want you three away from my crime scene if there's going to be any bloodshed like last time."

"You remember what I said about wondering what our alternate selves are like?" Phoebe asked, as she made her way back to her sisters. "I don't think I want to know, anymore."

"Alternate selves?" Prue echoed, confused.

"We're from an alternate reality," Paige told her, wondering what Prue was going to make of their little revelation. She wasn't sure how she felt, facing a Prue that wasn't the sister she'd known for years, and she could see that Piper and Phoebe were facing the same indecision.

"An alternate reality," Prue repeated, slowly, eying them. She glanced back at Darryl, who just shrugged.

"What? You expect me to be able to explain it?" he asked. "I'm just happy they're not trying to kill us."

"Okay, you have got to stop saying stuff like that," Piper said, an exasperated tone in her voice. "Why would Paige and I try to kill you? We already know about Phoebe's alternate self," she added, hastily.

Prue and Darryl exchanged another, long look. Paige was starting to get nervous. What could have happened in this reality; what could be so bad that Prue didn't even want to talk about it?

"Let's walk," Prue finally said, nodding at the hallway. "Darryl, I'll fill you in, later."

"You'd better," Darryl told her, and then the four of them left him to his crime scene.

"Where to?" Paige asked, when they were out in the hallway, and Prue pursed her lips as she thought about Paige's question for a moment.

"We can't go to P3," she mused out loud. "They know about it, and it's not secure. My place is no good-"

"This might sound random," Phoebe spoke up, getting Prue's attention, "but did your Cole ever get possessed by the Source?"

Prue stared at her for several long seconds. "No," she finally answered. "That's not something I ever had to worry about."

"Then I think I know a place we can go," Phoebe told them. "The penthouse." At Prue's confused look, she went on, "In our reality, Cole and I had this penthouse – still have, actually, but that's not the point – and the only reason we were able to afford it is because he was possessed by the Source. If that never happened, then the penthouse should still be safe. Your Piper and Phoebe won't know about it."

"How can you be sure that it's still empty?" Piper asked, reasonably.

"Because that place was expensive as hell," Phoebe replied. "The only way that Cole could afford it was by being evil, and using his demonic connections to gain power and prestige. It was standing empty for months before we rented it."

"If it's so expensive," Piper interrupted, shooting Phoebe a look, "then how are you affording it, right now?"

"Cole paid it off when he was working for the law firm," Phoebe answered. "And my job at the paper pays the rest of the bills."

Piper looked like she wanted to make some comment to that statement, but Paige elbowed her in the side, shaking her head, slightly. Now was not the time or place for that discussion. Besides, Phoebe and Cole were going to need a place of their own once they brought Josh back home.

"Penthouse it is, then," Paige declared.

Reaching out, she snagged Prue and Phoebe's arms, and Piper latched onto Paige's shoulders. Then, she orbed them out of the hallway and to the penthouse.

The lights were off in the penthouse when they orbed in, the sunlight streaming through the windows illuminating the room.

"Looks like you were right," Piper commented, looking around. "This place is empty."

"Not that empty," Prue commented, nodding at the table in the dining area, where a plate and glass were sitting. "Someone's been here, recently."

"Someone's still here," a harsh voice spoke up from behind them, and they turned around to see Cole standing in the doorway. His hair was wet, like he'd just stepped out of the shower, he was shirtless and barefoot, and he had a cold expression on his face. "Don't move," he ordered, furiously, an energy ball forming in the palm of his hand.


	8. Chapter 8

"Cole," Phoebe gasped, taking a step toward her husband. She stopped when he hefted the energy ball higher, glaring at her. She shook off Paige's hand when her younger sister grabbed her arm and tried to pull her back.

"Don't move," Cole repeated, coldly.

"Cole, it's me," Phoebe entreated, but he didn't look convinced.

"Prove it," he snapped.

"Prove it, how?" Phoebe demanded.

"What is our son's middle name?" Cole asked, after a moment.

"Ben," Phoebe told him, with a sad smile. She took a careful step closer to him when he lowered the energy ball a fraction. "He said that it's after his grandfather, but we don't know which one, because he won't tell us if it's short for Bennett, or Benjamin."

Cole crushed the energy ball in his hand, and Phoebe hurled herself across the space between them to wrap her arms around him in a crushing hug. Cole was holding onto her tight enough to leave bruises, but she didn't care. All she cared about right now was her husband in her arms.

"I thought I'd lost you," she managed to force out, her voice shaky. "After I was pulled back home, I didn't know what was going on, didn't know if you were safe-" She broke off, looking around the penthouse. "Where's Josh? Cole, please tell me you found him."

When Cole shook his head, she could feel her heart plummet into her stomach. "I tried," Cole said, his voice hollow. "I've been trying, but every time I go down there, I'm just fighting to stay alive. I haven't been able to find any sign of Josh."

Phoebe could feel herself start to shake. "What if that's because there's nothing to find?" she whispered, hoarsely. "Cole, what if we're too late? What if he's already-"

"Our son is not dead," Cole said firmly, cutting her off, midsentence. "Josh is alive, Phoebe. We are going to bring our baby boy home. I won't accept anything else."

Phoebe nodded, after a long moment, wrapping her arms around Cole as she rested her head on his chest. "I want him back," she murmured, feeling tears pool in her eyes. "I want our son back."

* * *

Paige glanced over at Phoebe and Cole. They were talking in low, quiet voices, and Cole was staring down at Phoebe like he was seeing the sun after a lifetime in the dark.

"That's why you and Nick didn't work out," Prue muttered in her ear, so as not to break the spell between the pair. "He never looked at you like that. Henry, though," she added, pointedly, and Paige rolled her eyes.

"Even in an alternate universe, you don't give up," she muttered back. "You're incorrigible."

"What are you two on about, over there?" Piper asked.

"Nothing," Paige said, hastily, shaking her head, minutely, at Prue when she glanced at her. She felt like a coward for hiding her past from her sisters for as long as she had, but she just couldn't bring herself to talk about it. Especially now, when they were trying to find Phoebe's missing son.

"Well, I don't want to break up the tender moment," Piper went on, "but do you think that this penthouse is the same as the one in our reality? Because my little darling has decided to amuse herself by kicking Mommy in the bladder."

"I'm sure she's not doing it on purpose," Paige protested, getting a look from Piper.

"After all the other stunts this kid has pulled from the womb," she remarked, "I wouldn't put it past her."

Paige chuckled as Piper left to hunt down the bathroom. Then, she shot Prue a sidelong look, a smirk twisting at her lips.

"You know," she commented, softly, "if I didn't stand for it when I was married to Nick, then what makes you think that Phoebe's going to stand for it, now?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Prue said, an innocent expression pasted on her face.

"You're about to march over there and protest Phoebe's marriage to Cole," Paige replied, and Prue flushed, guiltily. "I'm just warning you that it's going to fail, miserably."

"He's a demon," Prue muttered, stubbornly.

"Yeah, and I've already tilted at that particular windmill," Paige told her. "Phoebe's a big girl, and she's more than capable of making her own choices. She doesn't need us to protect her. Besides, Cole's a different guy. Human, now."

"That energy ball says differently," Prue reminded her. "How can he conjure energy balls if he's human?"

"Because as far as I can tell," Cole interjected, overhearing Prue, "that dagger I pulled out of the other Cole's chest was a power-absorbing athame. They're rare, and highly sought-after." He'd disappeared at some point to grab a shirt, but was still barefoot.

"Let me guess," Paige said, "it takes the powers of the victim and gives them to the one wielding the dagger."

"Or the one unfortunate enough to grab the dagger without knowing what it is," Phoebe finished, looking up at her husband. "So, you have the Source's powers, again?" she asked, clearly trying to hide the worry in her voice.

"No," Cole reassured her, quickly. "This Cole Turner was still Balthazar when he died."

"That's a nice explanation," Piper added, as she walked back into the room, "but it doesn't explain how Paige has powers, unless her alternate self really is dead." She and Phoebe both automatically flinched at those words, and then Piper glanced at Prue. "Which I'd _love_ to hear about," she added, pointedly, "seeing as how you were so convinced that Phoebe and I were going to hurt Paige."

"Let's go in here and talk," Cole suggested, leading the way into the living room. "Because there are some things I need to tell you, too. But, Prue should go first."

He sat down on an oversized chair, Phoebe settling on his lap and leaning against his chest, and Paige took a seat on the couch next to Piper and Prue. She reached out to her oldest sister, twining their fingers together as Piper mimicked her action on Prue's other side. Prue looked slightly amused at their action, but it didn't stop her from holding on to her sisters.

"So," Prue started, hesitantly, "I'm going to assume that, up to a certain point, our realities were essentially the same. And I'm also going to assume that the divergence was when Shax attacked – when I died."

"You still died, here?" Phoebe asked, in a small voice, and on Prue's other side, Piper looked completely stricken.

"I did," Prue confirmed, quietly. "And it tore you – my Piper and Phoebe, I mean – apart. They couldn't handle my death, and they used every magical way they could to try and bring me back."

"So did we," Piper told her. "We're not so different, there."

"But, you are," Prue stressed, looking over at her. "Because when the spells in the Book of Shadows failed, they didn't just stop, and learn to live without me. They-" She broke off, shaking her head in disbelief. "I still can't-"

"What happened?" Paige prompted, gently, and Prue squeezed her hand, hard.

"Piper and Phoebe started looking at black magic to try and bring me back," she said, softly, her voice hollow. "And they found a spell that succeeded."

"What kind of a spell?" Piper asked, sounding like she really didn't want to know the answer.

"One that required a sacrifice," Prue said, nodding grimly when Piper and Phoebe gasped in shock. "Yeah."

"You're saying that our counterparts sacrificed an Innocent to bring you back to life?" Phoebe demanded, hoarsely.

"Not an Innocent," Prue corrected her. "They found out about Paige, and they invited her into their lives, their home, and then they killed her. She was the sacrifice that brought me back to life."

Piper looked horrified. Phoebe looked like she wanted to get sick. Paige shivered, thinking of how desperate alt-Piper and alt-Phoebe had to have been, to consider human sacrifice acceptable. Then, she remembered how desperate she'd been after Pax had disappeared, how, in her darkest moments, she'd been willing to do anything to get her baby girl back.

_'I can understand where they're coming from,'_ she thought, wisely deciding not to mention that to her sisters. What she said, instead, was, "Thanks for saving me, and not-"

"Killing you?" Phoebe asked, faintly. "Well," she added, in a weak, joking tone, "there was that time you ran us out of milk-"

"That was Henry," Paige protested, getting a look from Piper.

"Yeah, and he practically lives at our house, half the time," she retorted. "Which means that you get to go shopping when he runs us out of groceries."

"I miss that," Prue said, wistfully, "fighting with my sisters like that."

"Maybe you will again, some day," Phoebe suggested, hesitantly, but Prue shook her head.

"Not after what they did," she said, softly. "No, my sisters are dead, and I don't know who those women are anymore."

"I'm sorry," Piper murmured, squeezing Prue's hand.

"How did you find out about it, though?" Cole asked, curiously. "I doubt that Piper and Phoebe would have just told you how they'd brought you back; they can't think that you'd approve."

"They didn't tell me," Prue answered. She looked down at her hands, a pensive look flashing briefly across her features. "They had some vague answer about a ritual that they found somewhere, and I just didn't question it. I guess I was just too happy to be alive. So happy that I couldn't be bothered to question anything," she added, bitterly. "Maybe if I had, Henry wouldn't have died."

"What happened?" Paige asked, almost afraid to hear the answer. "I saw his picture down at the station, but I thought it was his job. He always said that if he had to die, he wanted it to be because he was protecting someone he cared about."

"He was," Prue told her. "He was protecting me." When Paige looked curiously at Prue, she got a faint smile in return. "Henry was trying to find out what happened to Paige. After she disappeared, he started looking into things. He came to talk to Piper and Phoebe, because he knew that she had been going to talk to them the night of my funeral. He came to the Manor, but they weren't home."

"But, you were," Phoebe guessed, and Prue nodded.

"Piper had warned me not to go outside, avoid answering the door, that sort of thing," she replied. "She said that they weren't sure how their spell had affected my death, if it had reversed it, or erased all memory of it, or how it had affected the outside world. It sounded reasonable, and everything was so overwhelming, so I didn't mind staying indoors for a few days. But, I was up in the attic, and when I looked out the window, I saw Henry. And, normally, I wouldn't have answered the door, but it was Henry," she added, looking plaintively at Paige.

"What happened?" Piper prompted, gently, when Paige couldn't say anything.

"He was shocked to see me," Prue told her. "At first, anyway. After a couple of seconds, it was like he'd forgotten that I'd ever died, at all."

"An effect of the spell," Cole interrupted her. "I think I know the ritual they used to bring you back from the dead. It's an ancient spell, blood magic. It was created to resurrect the armies of the Source in times of battle, using the blood of their fallen foes."

"That's nasty," Phoebe commented, giving him a sidelong look.

"Well, _I've_ never used it," Cole said, defensively. Then, he winced when he realized just what he'd inadvertently implied with his unspoken words. "Sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No offense taken," Piper told him, with a wave of her hand. "Phoebe and I are not the same people as this universe's Piper and Phoebe. We would _never_-" she added, pointedly, looking at Paige.

"I know," Paige said, cutting Piper off. "So, what happened with Henry?" she asked Prue.

"Like I said, he forgot that I'd died," Prue told her. "But, he seemed to remember when I reminded him, and he told me that Paige had been looking into my death. That she'd been coming to talk to Piper and Phoebe the day she disappeared. We started talking, and I realized that some things weren't adding up. Like how Shax could have been vanquished, if I was dead, why Paige would have gone missing from here – Henry and I went up to the attic, and in the old trunk, the one where Grams kept all her spell supplies, and I found a notebook. Piper and Phoebe had used it to document their ritual to bring me back."

"Do you still have it?" Cole asked, suddenly, and Prue nodded, a small frown creasing her features.

"It's at my apartment," she told him. "Why?"

"Call it professional curiosity," Cole told her. "Besides, their notes could be of some use."

"My apartment isn't safe," Prue warned him, but she gave him the address, anyway.

"I'll be quick," Cole promised, and then he shimmered out of the penthouse.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:** Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys rock.

* * *

Cole returned about fifteen minutes after he'd left, sporting a new set of bruises and holding a thin blue notebook in his hand. He tossed the notebook onto the coffee table as he rejoined Phoebe on the loveseat.

"Well, there are now two less demons in the world," he announced, while Prue picked the notebook up off the coffee table.

"Were you followed?" she asked, and Cole snorted in derision.

"Give me some credit," he told her. "I was a demon for nearly a hundred years. I know how to dodge a tail."

"How's my place look?" Prue asked.

"Not bad," Cole told her, "so long as you like having your things in about a million pieces." Seeing Prue's wince, he went on, "Once we've got Josh back, and we're out of here, you can stay here, if you want. Apparently my alternate universe counterpart was renting this place, and as far as I've been able to tell, the rent is paid for the next year. He most likely had to delve back into black magic to do it, but there's no reason you shouldn't reap the benefits."

"I think I've had enough of black magic affecting my life," Prue said, softly, a strange expression on her face. "But, thanks for the offer."

"You should take this place," Piper prompted, looking around. "I mean, if demons know about your old place, obviously it isn't safe, anymore-"

"I, um," Prue started, hesitantly, "I really don't think I'm going to need it. Not if we succeed in stopping Piper and Phoebe."

"What do you mean?" Paige asked, cautiously, and Prue looked down at the notebook she held in her hands.

"You might as well see it," she said, passing the notebook over to Paige. "And, I think I was in the middle of telling you guys what happened."

"You were just about to tell us how Henry died," Phoebe reminded her, gently.

"Are you sure you want to know about this?" Prue asked, speaking to everyone in the living room, even though her eyes were fixed squarely on Paige.

Paige couldn't answer; she wasn't sure that she really wanted to know the details of her best friend's death, but she knew that she _had_ to know. Prue shot her a look, like she knew how Paige was feeling, but she continued with her story, after a moment.

"So, Henry and I went snooping around in the attic," she said, picking up where she'd left off. "We found Piper and Phoebe's ritual tools, and that notebook, and they documented the whole thing. In meticulous detail."

Taking the cue, Paige flipped open the first page and skimmed through Piper's neat handwriting. She felt herself grow pale as she read through the steps of the ritual.

"Yeah," Prue said, softly, seeing what she was reading. "Mom and Sam had a kid while they were sneaking around behind the Elders' backs," she quoted, from memory. "Leo says that the Elders think that she can be used to reconstitute the Power of Three. They're crazy if they think that this stranger is ever going to take Prue's place. She's never taking Prue's place. But maybe she can bring her back."

"They wrote down how they killed Paige?" Cole commented. "That's – disturbing."

"Henry was so angry," Prue said, and her voice was thick, like she was holding back tears. "And then Piper came into the attic, and he confronted her, and she-" Her voice cracked, and she rubbed wearily at her eyes. "She blew him up," she whispered, brokenly. "He was telling her that she was going to pay for Paige's death, and she just-"

"Excuse me," Piper interrupted her, a hand clamped over her mouth as she bolted out of the room, headed for the bathroom. Phoebe looked like she wanted to join Piper in getting sick, clutching Cole's hand in a painful-looking grip.

Paige could feel herself shaking. She could see all-too-clearly the images that Prue's words had conjured up. She'd seen Piper blow up hundreds of demons without ever really thinking about it, but now every explosion was replaying in her mind in slow motion, every demon's face replaced with Henry's.

"That was when I took off," Prue said, quietly. "I'd just watched my sister turn into a monster, someone capable of murdering our sister, of killing a good man in cold blood. I was dead to the world, I didn't have anywhere to go, anyone to turn to, but I ran away. I couldn't stay there, with them. The people I'd cared about most were either dead or evil, and I-"

She trailed off, staring helplessly down at her hands. "They're my sisters," she whispered. "How could they do this? How could they think that I'd want to come back like this?"

Paige wrapped her free arm around Prue's shoulders, pulling her oldest sister down against her side. Prue dropped her head onto Paige's shoulder, heaving a weary sigh. When Piper came back from the bathroom, smelling strongly of mint and with a bit of toothpaste on the corner of her mouth, she reached out and grasped Prue's hand, squeezing gently.

"This ritual," Paige said, slowly, as she read through the notebook, "it used your Paige's death as the catalyst of your resurrection. But, if I'm reading this correctly, it's powered by Piper and Phoebe's magic."

"That's right," Prue said, softly, not moving from where she was pressed up against Paige.

"If we fight them," Paige went on, "they would try to kill us. Leaving us with very few options."

"Yeah," Prue agreed, tonelessly. "Kill or be killed, that's pretty much what we're looking at, here."

"But-" Paige protested, but Prue cut her off before she could continue.

"Let's just figure out what we're going to do to find Phoebe and Cole's son," she said, hastily, pulling away from Paige as she sat up on the couch.

She shot Paige a sharp look when she tried to continue, and Paige finally nodded, closing the notebook so that she didn't have to look at the incriminating evidence, any longer. The ritual that had brought Prue back to life, the one that was even now being powered by Piper and Phoebe's magic, it would end if anything interrupted their magic, like their deaths. And when the ritual ended, so would Prue. If they succeeded in stopping their evil alternate selves, Prue was going to die, again.

_'And this time,'_ Paige thought, glancing over at her sisters, _'we'll be the ones killing her.'_

But, she could tell from the look on Prue's face that she didn't want Piper and Phoebe to know. Knowing Prue, she probably didn't even want Paige to know, but then she had handed over the notebook in the first place-

Paige was drawn out of her thoughts by the sound of Cole's voice, and she tuned in to hear what he was saying.

"It's been a week since Josh was taken," Cole was saying, and Phoebe stared at him in horror.

"A week?" she echoed, incredulously. "It can't be – it wasn't even an hour, back home."

"It's been a week," Cole echoed, and when she looked closer, Paige could see every second of stress lined on his face. "I've been trying to find Josh, but the Underworld is enormous, and I've never been very good at tracking spells. Plus," he added, a dark look coming over his face, "I've had to spend the week trying to avoid being vanquished by your alternate selves. I've had more than a few close calls."

"Do you have anything of Josh's? Something with a personal connection?" Paige asked him, but Cole shook his head, regretfully.

"We've spent the last five months hopping from one reality to another," he reminded her. "We haven't really had a lot of time to accumulate belongings."

"Blood it is, then," Paige declared. "I assume there are knives in the kitchen?"

Without waiting for an answer, she got up and went into the kitchen, grabbing a small, sharp knife from the wooden block on the counter. Opening a few cabinets, she took a few seconds to admire the alternate Cole's preparedness. He'd collected more than enough potion ingredients before his death that she had a very well-stocked supply to work with.

She gathered the ingredients that she needed from the cabinets, loading her arms up as she headed back into the living room. A second trip took care of the rest of the ingredients. Setting everything on the low coffee table in front of the couch, she reclaimed her place next to Prue and held the knife, handle first, out to Cole.

"What's that for?" Cole asked.

"You have your tracking spells," Paige told him, "I have mine. Hold onto that; I don't need blood, yet."

Cracking the plastic lid on the distilled water she'd taken from the kitchen, she carefully poured until the low, shallow bowl sitting in the middle of the table was half full. She shredded the rosemary by hand, sprinkling it into the water, and then she added the lavender, thyme, burdock shavings, and nearly a dozen other ingredients. Then, she nodded at the bowl.

"All right," she said, looking at Cole and Phoebe. "I want at least three drops of blood from both of you."

"This isn't a spell from the Book," Phoebe commented, as she pricked her finger and let the blood fall into the water and herb mixture.

"That's because it's not in the Book, yet," Paige admitted. "I'm kind of making this up as I go. I took elements of the spell to call a lost witch, and the blood to blood summoning spell, and I combined them with a modification of a potion I found in a book of Druidic magic; the original was used to induce visions."

There was a silence, and then Piper asked, dryly, "So, you're saying that we need to find you a life before you wind up rewriting the Book of Shadows?"

"I think it's a little late for that, actually," Paige replied, distractedly, as she stirred the potion with her finger. Nine times clockwise, and then she let the water settle into stillness. "Hey, Prue?" she asked, looking over at the older woman, "there's a spell, and more power can't hurt-"

"Like I'm going to pass up the opportunity to work some magic with my baby sister," Prue replied, a teasing tone in her voice. "What's the spell?"

Paige scrawled the words on a clean page of the notebook, and Prue studied the spell for a moment. Then, the two of them started chanting, softly.

_"Powers of the witches, rise,  
Show us who we wish to find."_

"You know," Prue commented, "rise and find don't really rhyme."

"Next time, you can work magic on the fly," Paige grumbled."Besides, it's working, isn't it?"

And it was working, the water in the bowl swirling into a small cyclone that actually rose up into the air above the lip of the bowl before falling back down with barely a splash. As the water stopped moving, an image started to form in the middle of the bowl, of a young boy huddled against a rocky wall. There was a bruise on his cheek, and an utterly miserable look in his eyes, but he was alive.

"That's him," Phoebe whispered, tears choking her voice as she stared down at her son. "Oh, Josh. My baby boy."

"But, that could be anywhere," Cole argued. "The Underworld is enormous. Without any kind of landmarks-"

"That's where the scrying comes in," Paige told him. "Now, if I understand the Underworld correctly, it's more or less analogous to real world measurements, right? If I orbed straight down from this spot, I would wind up in a section of the Underworld that corresponds with it, right?"

"That's roughly how it works, yeah," Cole replied. "When demons were first banished from this world, they carved out the Underworld in an imitation of the only world they'd known. They keep doing it, now, because it's the easiest way to keep track of locations in this world."

"Got a map?" Paige asked, and Cole got up, retrieving scrying components from an ornate chest nestled against the wall.

Paige nudged the bowl to the side of the table as Cole spread the map out, accepting the crystal that he held out to her. She dipped the rough chunk of quartz into the bowl, letting the magic from the potion seep into the crystal, and then she held it out over the portion of San Francisco that the map was open to.

"Most likely," she said, as she let the crystal swing free, "Piper and Phoebe kept him in the portion of the Underworld that corresponds to the Manor. It's their base of power aboveground, and they probably wouldn't want to travel very far away from it."

"Plus," Cole added, "the Source's chambers are located almost directly below the Manor."

"You're kidding, right?" Piper asked, incredulously, a comment that was quickly echoed by Prue.

"Think about it," Cole pointed out. "You've got the Nexus under the Manor, and even though its magic is primarily controlled by the forces in control of the Manor, there's a kind of – trickle, for lack of a better word – a trickle of magic that constantly flows downward and seeps into the area around it. And, of all the nexuses in San Francisco, this one is the strongest, since your family has had control for over one hundred years, and their magic has fed the Nexus."

"That's creepy," Phoebe commented, "and I think I could have lived the rest of my life without knowing that the Source is almost literally our next door neighbor."

"And, yet," Prue replied, "he's still not as annoying as that guy who lived next door when we were kids, and he blasted rock music every day at three in the morning while he welded his scrap metal art together."

Paige chuckled at the image that brought to mind, and then she got serious, again, when the crystal dropped onto the map.

"I think I found Josh," she announced, and a hush fell over the room.

"How sure are you?" Phoebe asked, a barely restrained urgency in her voice.

"Well," Paige cautioned, "there's always the chance that your blood honed in on your alternate self. But, since this is using the same potion we found Josh with the first time, I'm fairly confident that it's him."

"Where?" Cole asked, sharply.

"A little bit up the street from the Manor," Paige replied, checking the map.

"Which means right near the Source's chambers," Piper said. "I guess they wanted to keep him close."

"Well, ladies, and gentleman," Prue said, into the silence that followed Piper's comment, "we have a rescue to plan."


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:** Thanks a million to everyone who's been reading and reviewing.

* * *

"Actually," Paige commented, before anyone could say anything, "_I_ have a rescue to plan. Hear me out," she added, when the protests started, "there's only three of us that can go: me, Prue, and Cole. Because there is no way in Hell I'm letting the two of you into the Underworld without any powers." She punctuated her last statement with a decisive glare at Piper and Phoebe.

"Well, then Prue and I will go with you," Cole told her, but Paige shook her head, emphatically.

"I don't think so," she replied. "What if the Psycho Sisters attack? You and Prue need to stay here to protect Piper and Phoebe."

"So, we're just supposed to let you waltz into the Underworld by yourself?" Prue demanded, and Paige nodded.

"I'm not happy about this, believe me," she said, solemnly. "I'd rather have backup down there, but I'm not willing to leave Piper and Phoebe unguarded in this crazy world."

"Excuse me," Phoebe spoke up, sounding irritated. "This is my son we're talking about. Don't Piper and I get any say in this?"

"You're both powerless, and Piper is pregnant," Paige said, meeting Phoebe's gaze, unflinchingly. "So, no."

"But-" Piper started, but Paige didn't let her finish.

"I've already lost one sister, and I'll be damned if I watch the two of you die, here," she said, her voice unwavering. Grabbing the crystal where it was lying on the table, she shot Cole a look. "Don't you dare try to follow me," she told him, and then she orbed out of the penthouse, leaving behind a trail of fading lights.

There was a moment of silence, and then Piper looked over at Prue. "You've known her longer," she remarked. "Has she always been like this?"

"You mean stubborn?" Prue asked, wryly. "Yeah, pretty much. I think it runs in the family."

Another long, awkward silence fell over the room, and then Piper asked, quietly, "Hey, Prue?"

"Yeah?" Prue prompted, when Piper trailed off, staring down at her clasped hands.

"Where's Leo?" Piper finally asked, sounding like she was afraid to know the answer. "He's not – is he dead?" she forced out in a hoarse whisper.

"Leo's not dead," Prue reassured her, watching as Piper let out an explosive sigh of relief. "He, um, well, he-" She trailed off, looking like she didn't quite know how to phrase her answer. "He's just not here," she finally finished.

"Then, where is he?" Phoebe asked, when Piper couldn't seem to speak.

"He's Up There," Prue said, pointing toward the ceiling. "He – after Piper and Phoebe turned, he couldn't stay here. He was going to, for me, but I told him not to. I knew how hard it was for him, seeing Piper like that, and I-" She laughed, bitterly, "Let's just say that it was easier to avoid detection on my own."

"Detection from what?" Phoebe asked, confused.

"From us, apparently," Piper told her. "I'm glad Leo's not here," she added, softly, getting a surprised look from Prue.

"You are?" she asked, and Piper nodded.

"If this, if evil, is the path that the alternate me chose, I'm glad that Leo didn't follow," she said. "He's a better man than that. I thought I was better than that," she added, shaking her head in disbelief, and Prue cut her off before she could continue.

"You are better than that," she told her. "You and Phoebe, you moved on, you learned to live without me. You were stronger than my sisters."

A low, dark chuckle sounded from behind them, and Prue looked up in horror to see Phoebe sauntering into the room. The little smile on her lips didn't match the cold fury in her eyes as she stared at them.

"Oh, you're going to wish you hadn't said that," she told Prue, shaking her head with what looked like regret. But, Prue knew all too well that her sister was incapable of those kinds of emotions, any more.

Prue jumped up from the couch, instinctively moving between her sister and her alternate counterpart. Cole had stood as well, a hand on Piper's shoulder, ready to shimmer the pregnant woman out of harm's way at a moment's notice.

"What are you doing here, Phoebe?" Prue demanded, her voice wary.

She went up on the balls of her feet as she prepared to confront her sister, hands raised in front of her to deflect anything Phoebe threw at her. Paige's warning about staying to protect her sisters was suddenly much more real than it had been a few minutes ago.

"Don't call me that," Phoebe snarled, her face twisted with fury. "You betrayed us. You don't get to use that name any more."

"And you don't deserve it," Cole countered, a challenging tone in his voice. Prue glanced over to see an energy ball in the palm of his hand, ready to be thrown.

"Look at you, Phoebe," Prue entreated, even as she wondered if her sister even had any humanity left to appeal to. "What have you become?"

"What I've become is stronger than I've ever been in my life," Phoebe told her, coldly. "After Piper became the new Source of all Evil, I became her right hand, as the new Seer. We control the Underworld."

"And the sad thing is," Prue said, shaking her head in disgust, "you actually think that's something to be proud of."

Phoebe – no, she wasn't Phoebe, any longer, she was the Seer – the Seer growled, raising a hand. A stream of fire left her hand to fly straight at their heads. Prue shoved Phoebe behind her even as she telekinetically threw the fire out of the way, shattering the glass of the French doors. Cole was a second behind her, throwing the energy ball in his hand and knocking the Seer backward.

"Get Piper out of here!" Prue snapped, and Cole wrapped a hand around her arm to shimmer her away, but Piper shook her head.

"We can't leave without Prue and Phoebe," she insisted.

"I can't shimmer you all out of here," Cole told her, "and you've got your baby to think of."

"We'll be right behind you," Prue told her, meeting Piper's eyes. "I promise."

Piper nodded, and Cole pulled her close as he shimmered them away from the penthouse. Prue looked around at a sound, to see the Seer getting back up, a hateful expression on her face.

"Okay," Phoebe said, from behind her, "now what?"

"Leo!" Prue called out, glancing quickly toward the ceiling. "Leo, I could really use some help, right about now!"

A swirl of bright, white lights filled her vision as the Whitelighter orbed between them and the Seer. He blinked in surprise to see two Phoebes standing in the room, but Prue shook her head before he could say anything.

"Orb now, explanations later," she told him, shortly.

Leo grabbed her and Phoebe's shoulders, and the penthouse disappeared in front of their eyes in a wash of bright light. When they reformed, they were standing in the middle of white nothingness. It seemed vaguely familiar, and after a moment she remembered their battle with Eames, and masquerading as Elders to vanquish the warlock.

"You know," Phoebe commented, looking around, "I'd almost forgotten what this place looks like."

"You and me, both," Prue told her. "It's so peaceful up here. Unlike down there," she muttered, glancing down in the direction of the Earth.

"Not to interrupt this moment, or anything," Leo spoke up, "but I'd like an explanation, please. Now."

His voice was hard, and he was glaring at Phoebe like she was the enemy. Not surprising, considering everything that had happened, and luckily Phoebe didn't look offended by his distance.

"Alternate universe," she said, with a small smile at Leo. "I'm serious," she added, when he looked surprised. "We came here from an alternate universe."

"Who's we?" Leo demanded.

"Me, and Paige, and Piper," Phoebe started to explain, but then she looked around. "Wait a minute. Where's Piper?"

"I'm right here," Piper called out, before Prue could start to panic. She turned to see Piper and Cole walking toward them. Cole was looking around at the clouds in curiosity.

"So, this is what it looks like up here," he remarked.

"You can't be up here!" Leo exclaimed, looking scandalized. "You're a demon."

"No," Cole corrected him, drawing the word out, "I've got demonic powers. Trust me, there's a difference."

"Still demonic," Leo muttered, and Prue stepped on his foot, shooting him a glare when he looked offended.

"How did you guys get up here?" she asked, before Leo and Cole could get into some kind of good-versus-not-so-evil pissing contest.

"I tracked Phoebe up here," Cole replied, as he crossed to his wife's side and pulled her into a tight hug. "Are you okay?" Prue heard him murmur, quietly.

"I'm fine," Phoebe reassured him, holding on just as tightly. "But, we have got to figure out a way to stop our crazy alternate selves before they take over the world."


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: **We've reached my favorite chapter. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

After she ran away from Josh, and the hulking demons guarding him, Paxton wandered around the Underworld for a while. After getting out of the area where Josh was being held (it was shielded, presumably to keep the boy from escaping), she shimmered around the Underworld, never staying in one place for very long.

She couldn't stay still; Josh's voice still echoing in her mind. She'd heard the boy calling out to her as she'd fled the cavern, but she'd been too scared to turn around. She just blocked out the fearful sound of his voice and ran, chased by broken fragments of memories, and her own guilt at leaving him behind.

_'I'm sorry,'_ she thought, her eyes brimming with tears as Josh's face swam in her mind's eye. The boy probably hated her, not that she blamed him; she'd hate anyone who left her to rot in Hell, too. She sank down on a rock, wrapping her arms around her waist as the tears slipped silently down her cheeks.

But, just as quickly as the tears had appeared, she dashed them away with the back of her hand. She didn't understand why she was crying over some boy that she'd only known for a few minutes, didn't understand why she cared what he thought of her. He was just some random child; he had no power, no prestige, nothing to mark him as important, as she had been taught to recognize such things. And yet, it hurt to think that Josh could by angry at her for leaving him.

_'Stop your useless sniveling, girl.'_ Her grandmother's voice rang, unbidden in her ears, her eyes cold and hard in her memory. _'Emotions are a weakness you can ill afford. Especially with your – taint.'_

Tainted. The word her grandmother spit out, disgustedly, every time the subject of Paxton's mixed heritage came up. Whitelighters were the enemy, Paxton knew that as easily as she breathed, but she couldn't help being who she was. It wasn't her fault that her mother had been a Whitelighter, or part Whitelighter, or whatever the hell she'd been. But, no one in her family could seem to see it that way, and only her father acted like it didn't bother him, having a daughter with the blood of the enemy.

_'But,' _Paxton thought, bitterly, _'that's probably only because Grandmother is still mad at him for getting involved with my mother in the first place, and he wants to piss her off.'_

Paxton winced as she inadvertently called her faint memories of her mother to mind. She remembered Josh's confusion as he'd asked if her mother loved her, and her anger when she'd informed him that her mother had abandoned her. And she had, Paxton was sure of it. She'd probably taken one look at her demon-tainted child and, with her holier-than-thou Whitelighter attitude, had decided that she didn't want to waste her time. After all, why else wouldn't she be involved in her daughter's life?

_'I'm better off without her,'_ Paxton thought, repeating the phrase that had been her mantra for as long as she could remember.

It was the only thing her father would say, every time she'd asked about her mother when she was younger. That her mother was weak, and that she'd abandoned them, and that they were better off without her. Eventually, she'd just learned to stop asking. The problem was, she couldn't stop remembering.

There was nothing concrete in her memories; only fragments that she wasn't sure were even real. The sound of bright laughter, the feeling of being swept up in a hug, the smell of chocolate chip pancakes (which she snuck above-world at least once a week to try and find; they were the guilty pleasure her father never needed to know about). A strange feeling in her chest – in her heart, if she was being honest – that was at times both terrifying and comforting when it struck her. She'd never felt anything like it, before – except that she had to have, otherwise how could she know what it felt like?

There was a part of her that hated the memories, hated how they made her feel. And another, smaller part that longed to feel that way all the time. But, it was impossible. There was no warmth to be found in the Underworld, and she would have no welcome above.

_'Unless Josh was telling the truth,'_ a little voice whispered in the back of her mind. _'If he does come from a better world, if his family really would accept me-'_

She shook that thought off, though. If a better world really did exist, the kind of world that her mother had lived in, the likes of her had no place in it. She was the scion of the Long clan; the sooner she remembered that, the better.

_'Is this how all Whitelighters feel?'_ she thought, frustrated with herself. _'Do they experience this confusion and turmoil all the time?'_

If they did, she didn't like it. And not for the first time, she wished that she could just do away with her Whitelighter side. It had brought her nothing but grief, and pain, and scorn from her fellow demons. How could she possibly be strong, when part of her was only dragging her down?

"There you are; I've been looking all over for you!"

Paxton jumped at the voice from behind her, twisting around to shoot a glare over her shoulder at the figure approaching her. Then, she turned back around and hugged her knees to her chest, ignoring her intruder. Unfortunately, he didn't seem very inclined to ignore her.

"Go away, Hugo," she said, flatly, getting a snort of laughter from the older boy.

"That's not very nice of you," Hugo scolded, as he sat down on the rock behind her.

Hugo was the closest she had to a friend down here. The older boy hadn't been living in the Underworld as long as she had, only about two years. He didn't talk much about his time in the above world, only that he owed his life to Vicus, the demon that had brought him into the Underworld.

Pax had first met him a few days after he'd arrived to the Underworld, when he'd managed to get on the wrong side of Brenna and her gang, a bunch of arrogant brats who'd been convinced that they were better than Vicus's new, half-breed pet. Pax had gotten in the middle, and while they hadn't been afraid of her, they'd certainly been afraid of her father's wrath, and they'd backed off. Pax had used that fear to let everyone in the area know to keep their hands off Hugo, and they'd bonded as the only half demons in a world of pure-blooded power plays.

She liked Hugo. He was smart, funny, and for the most part, he didn't get on her nerves. Except when he did things like try to push her off her rock.

The rock she was sitting on wasn't very big, and so he wound up shoving at her back with his shoulders until she gave up enough ground that he had a place to sit. His back pressed against hers, a warm, solid presence, and she could feel his muscles shifting under his skin as he moved, restlessly.

"Sit still," she finally snapped, craning her head around briefly to shoot him an irritated look. "Why do you always have to squirm around like that?"

"Why, Cheryl," Hugo said, a droll tone in his voice, "you're in fine form, today."

"Shut up," Paxton said, without heat. "I am not turning into my grandmother."

"And here I thought you'd be happy to hear that," Hugo told her, sounding surprised. "You're living up to your name, peace-child."

"I said, shut up," Paxton muttered, hunching further over her knees. "And, you're one to talk, _bright of spirit_." As much as she hated her Whitelighter side, there were days when she hated her name even more. What kind of demon could she be with a name that meant peace?

"I told you," Hugo said, easily, not bothered by her mocking of his name, "we'll be freaks, together."

"I don't want to be a freak with you," she muttered, rebelliously. After a moment, she asked, softly, "Hugo, do you think there's a better world out there?"

"Better, how?" Hugo asked. "Haven't you noticed that we're living in the lap of luxury, down here?" His words were carefully chosen, but she could hear a faint thread of sarcasm underneath.

"Better as in sunshine, laughter, happiness-"

"Good?" Hugo interrupted her, dryly.

"Fine, yes," Paxton conceded, "a good world. Do you think that there is such a thing?"

"You've seen Good, you know it exists," Hugo said, sounding surprised. "But, what does that have to do with you? Why do you care?"

"I met this boy," Paxton said, hesitantly, and then she paused. She trusted Hugo, as much as any of them could trust another, down in Hell. But, she wasn't sure if she could trust him with this.

"You mean the Seer's newest captive?" Hugo asked, when she fell silent. "Half the local Underworld knows that she's holding some witch-child as part of some vendetta plot. It's not like she's been particularly subtle about it."

"Oh, hello, Vicus," Paxton mocked, elbowing Hugo in the back. "You're in fine form, today."

"Oh, shut up," Hugo retorted, at the mention of his mentor. "He's right, though. The Source and her sister rule through power, not finesse. Their reign will never last."

"You're rambling," Paxton told him.

"Okay, fine," Hugo shot back, "we'll get back to your topic of choice. What do you want with the Seer's captive?"

"I went to see him," Paxton confessed, and Hugo shook his head in silent exasperation. "The Seer took him to try and get back at his family. They're looking for him."

"I repeat," Hugo said, patiently, "what does that have to do with you?"

"He offered to take me with him," Paxton told him, in a small voice. "To live with his family in his better world."

"Lies," Hugo snorted, derisively. "He's just trying to lure you into some kind of a trap."

And that's what Paxton thought, what all of her instincts had been telling her. And, yet…

"He's just a kid," Paxton protested, and behind her, she could feel Hugo jerk his shoulders in a shrug.

"So?" he returned. "You can't deny that it's not exactly what you would do, in his place."

"Well, yeah," she replied, slowly, "but Good doesn't think the same way that we do. I think he really meant it."

"Do you want to go?" Hugo asked, his tone carefully guarded.

"I don't know," Paxton said, softly. "Maybe."

"You're an idiot," Hugo pointed out. "You're going to go help this kid escape, aren't you?"

"I don't know," she whispered. "Maybe." She hesitated, and then plunged ahead. "Are you going to stop me?"

"If you want to be stupid," Hugo remarked, "it's no business of mine. Besides," he added, in an almost grudging tone, "we freaks have to stick together, remember?"

"Come with me," Paxton offered, impulsively, but Hugo shook his head.

"Can't," he said, shortly, his voice tight. "I've got no one but Vicus. Unlike you, I remember what life is like up there, and there's nothing left for me up there." He fell silent for a long minute, and then went on, "But, I'll draw the guards away, if you want. For as long as I can."

"Thanks," Paxton said, smiling slightly.

"I still think you're an idiot," Hugo told her. "But, if there really is a better world out there, I think you should try to find it."


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note:** Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys rock.

* * *

Josh idly tossed a rock at the wall, watching it skitter off into the shadows. Snatching another from the pile at his feet, he threw it. The soft scratching sound of stone on stone drew the attention of his guards.

"Knock it off, boy," one of the demons growled, and Josh bit back the retort that sprang to his lips, not wanting to get the demons mad at him, again. It didn't stop him from sticking his tongue out at them when their backs were turned, though.

Picking up another rock, he looked at the wall, but decided that throwing it wasn't worth getting yelled at again – or worse. Instead, he started doodling lines in the sand, drawing arcing lines and circles. The triquetra. The symbol of the Charmed Ones, the strongest witches in the world. His mom's – his _family's_ – symbol.

_'Mom and Dad are looking for me,'_ Josh told himself, firmly. _'They're going to find me, and we're going to go home.'_ He'd been repeating the same mantra to himself over and over, for days. They would come for him. He had to believe that.

He looked up when he heard a hissing sound from nearby. For a second, he didn't see anyone, not even his guards, and then Paxton moved stealthily into the chamber where he was being held. There was a boy behind her, taller and older than her, with short, black hair.

"You came back for me?" he asked, cautiously hopeful, and the girl nodded, a shy smile on her lips.

"Let's go," she hissed, grabbing Josh's free hand and pulling him to his feet.

"Wait," Josh said, confused. "Why are you helping me?"

"Because you deserve a chance to go home," Paxton told him. Then, her eyes dropped toward the ground and she muttered, softly, "And I want to see this better world of yours."

"You're going to love my family," Josh promised her, with a smile. "And they're going to love you, too."

"Oh, I'm going to be sick," the boy moaned, dramatically, and Josh shot him a wary look.

"Who's he?" he asked, cautiously.

"This is Hugo," Paxton told him. "Hugo, this is Josh – be nice," she scolded, when the boy just scowled. "Hey, you said that you'd help me. If you don't want to-"

"I said I'd help, didn't I?" Hugo asked, a grudging tone in his voice. He raked his eyes over Josh, quickly, still frowning. "I guess it'll work."

"Guess?" Paxton echoed, incredulously. "Hugo, he looks just like you. The two of you could be brothers!"

"I wouldn't go _that_ far," Hugo muttered, under his breath. "Okay, so, give me a five-count, and then run like hell, got it?"

"Wait a minute," Josh interrupted, confused. "What are you talking about? What's going on?"

"Your guards took off," Hugo told him, "and that's how we were able to get in here. But, they won't stay gone, and they need to be if you're getting out of here. So, I'm going to draw them away from the entrance, give you two a chance to escape."

"But, what about you?" Josh asked, worried for the other boy's safety, even though he'd only met him a few seconds ago.

"Don't worry about him," Paxton replied, before Hugo could say anything. "Those demons aren't going to touch him, once they figure out he's not you. And, besides, he thinks this kind of thing is fun."

"Because it _is_ fun," Hugo countered, and then he darted out of the cavern without another word.

Even as Paxton pressed him back against the side of the wall so that they wouldn't be seen by the guards, Josh could hear a furious shout in the distance. He watched as Hugo went tearing down the corridor, followed by the enraged demons that were supposed to be guarding him, and he let out a quiet sigh of relief when the demons were gone.

"Come on," Paxton said, after they were out of sight, pulling him toward the entrance to the cavern.

They crept slowly to the entrance of the cavern, and Paxton peeked out into the corridor. At a sound, she pushed Josh back, and they waited, anxiously, barely breathing until a hooded demon had passed by them. Then, as soon as the coast was clear, they sprinted down the corridor.

Paxton was holding his hand in a painful grip, and Josh could barely feel his fingers. He didn't care, though, not if it meant that he was going to see his mom and dad, again. And all he had to do was get out of the Underworld, and back to sunlight.

"Almost there," Paxton told him, glancing back long enough to look at him, and then she stumbled, falling heavily toward the ground.

With their hands still linked, she dragged Josh with her to the ground, and he fell on top of her with a pained grunt. He jumped back up, pulling Paxton up with him, and they started running again. Paxton was laughing over the way she'd tripped over nothing, the sound of her voice filling the cavern, and then suddenly she went silent.

Josh slammed into a stop before he ran into Paxton's back, his hand on her shoulder. She was standing rigidly in front of him, her shoulders tense. He peeked around her to see a red-headed woman standing in the corridor, blocking their path. Paxton was staring at the woman like she was seeing a ghost.

"I know you," she said, suspiciously, glaring at the woman as she stayed protectively in front of Josh. "Who are you?"

"My name is Paige," the woman said, quietly. "I've been looking for him. You _are_ Josh, aren't you?" she asked, looking over Paxton's shoulder to where Josh was standing.

"What do you want with him?" Paxton asked, harshly, shooting Josh a quick look when he put a hand on her shoulder. "What? She's probably a demon."

"I'm no demon," the woman spoke up, but she didn't look offended by Paxton's accusation. "I'm a Whitelighter."

"See?" Josh protested. "She's fine, Paxton. Not everyone's out to get us."

In front of them, Paige had gone completely pale, staring at Paxton in shock. "Pax?" she whispered, her voice shaky. Her eyes were wide with amazement, and Josh caught a quick flash of joy-grief-elation from her mind. "Pax, baby-"

Paxton's eyes went wide at the woman's words, and she took a quick step back, bumping into Josh. "You're dead," she snapped, a flare of anger practically lighting her up. "You can't be here. He told me you abandoned me."

"I never abandoned you," Paige said, and Josh could hear tears choking her voice. "Pax, sweetheart, I thought I'd lost you. I thought-"

"Paxton, who is this?" Josh asked, surprised to see his friend fighting back tears. "Paxton?"

"This is my mom," Paxton whispered, still staring at the woman. "She's my mom."


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note:** There is character death in this chapter. Have tissues handy.

* * *

Josh stared in disbelief between Paxton and the Whitelighter who'd come to their rescue – Paxton's _mother_.

"He said that you hated me," Paxton said, staring in confusion at her mother.

"Never," Paige choked out. "Sweetheart, I love you."

"Then why did you leave me?" Paxton demanded, her voice harsh with the tears she struggled to keep from shedding. "If you really loved me, you never would have left me."

"I never wanted to leave you," Paige said, shaking her head. "Pax, baby, someone took you away from me. I tried to find you; I looked for so long-"

"How do I know you're not lying?" Pax asked, suspiciously.

"I know she's not lying," Josh spoke up, hesitantly, smiling slightly when Pax looked over at him. "She's telling the truth. I can sense it. She loves you, Paxton."

Paxton blinked at him in surprise, and then she turned back to Paige, a look of naked hope and longing on her face.

"Do you?" she ventured, nervously. "Do you really love me?"

"Always," Paige told her, her voice cracking. "Always."

"But, I'm a demon," Paxton said, confused. "I'm evil." Paige shook her head.

"No," she said, vehemence in her voice. "You're not evil. You're my daughter."

Paxton sniffled, inching cautiously forward. Paige knelt down, clearly fighting every urge she possessed to run to her daughter, and when Paxton was close enough, she wrapped her arms around her. Paxton let out something that sounded suspiciously like a sob, squeezing her mother in a painfully-hard hug.

"Mama," she choked out, burying her face in Paige's shoulder. "Mama."

"I'm here, baby," Paige crooned, and Josh blinked back tears as he watched their reunion. "I'm never going to let you go, again."

"Well, isn't that just enough to make me sick?"

Josh turned around to see the Source standing in front of them, a sneer on her face. Paige reached out and grabbed his wrist, yanking him and Paxton behind her, shielding them with her body. She glared at the Source, her eyes hard.

"Didn't I already kill you, once?" the Source asked, looking curiously at Paige.

"I don't die, easily," she growled. "Just get out of the way, Piper. I just want to get my kids home. I don't want to hurt you."

"That's odd," the Source said, tilting her head as she stared at Paige, "because I have absolutely no compunction about hurting you."

Josh cringed away from the menacing tone in the woman's voice, and the Source smirked at his reaction. She twitched her hand, like she was summoning an energy ball, and then she laughed at the way he jumped behind Paige.

"What's the matter, little boy?" she asked, mockingly. "Scared?"

"We're not afraid of you," Paxton said, angrily, from behind Paige.

"Pax-" Paige said, softly, a hand on her shoulder to keep the girl from moving past her.

"Mama-" Pax started, but then she was cut off by the sound of the Source's incredulous laughter.

"_Mama_?" the older woman repeated, a scathing tone in her voice. "Oh, this is just too good. You people are just popping up all over the place, aren't you? My sister dies, but you're like a damn cockroach, you just can't stay dead-"

While the Source was distracted with her furious ranting, Paige darted forward, slamming into the other woman with the full force of her body. The blow drove the Source backward, driving her into the wall, her head slamming against the rock with a resounding crack. Then, Paige whirled around and grabbed his and Paxton's wrists, pulling them with her down the corridor.

"Come on, come on, run," she encouraged them, as they sprinted as fast as they could. "We need to get some place I recognize, some place I can orb us out of."

"You should have killed her, Mama," Paxton gasped, as they ran, but Paige shook her head.

"We're better than that, sweetheart," she said, gently. "We don't do revenge. Besides, you and Josh are my top priority. I need to get you to safety."

"There's a safe place up ahead," Paxton told her, getting a quick smile from her mother.

A few steps later, Josh stumbled over a patch of uneven ground. His hand was ripped out of Paige's as he went down, scraping his hand on the rough, stone floor. Paige and Paxton had stopped, and Paige was pulling him to his feet, when he heard Paxton gasp in horror. Josh looked up to see the Source stalking down the corridor toward them, a fireball glowing brightly in the palm of her hand.

A furious snarl had twisted the Source's face, and without a word, she sent the fireball flying toward them. Josh cringed behind Paige, even thought he knew the gesture was all but useless, but then Paxton moved.

She lunged forward, putting herself between Paige and the oncoming fireball. The fireball struck her squarely in the chest, sending her stumbling backward into Paige's arms. Her body was limp as Paige carefully lowered her to the floor, and her blank eyes stared unseeingly at the ceiling.

Paige screamed, a guttural, wordless sound filled with unimaginable rage and pain, as she threw herself at the Source. The sudden movement had clearly taken the older woman by surprise, because Paige managed to wrap her hands around the Source's throat, squeezing hard. The Source made a choking sound in the back of her throat as she tried to breathe, her fingers clawing uselessly at Paige's hands. Her face was turning blue, and then an ashy gray, and then Paige stepped back, suddenly, letting the Source fall, unconscious, to the ground.

She stared down at the older woman's body with a horrified look on her face, and then she very deliberately turned away and walked slowly back to where her daughter lay, kneeling and gathering her body in her arms. Josh could feel the rage bleeding off her as she held Paxton, the black fury morphing into utter, all-encompassing grief.

"I'm sorry," she was saying over and over, in a choked whisper, as she cradled her daughter to her chest. "I'm so sorry, baby. I'm so sorry."

Josh took a hesitant step forward, his hand hovering over Paige's shoulder. She seemed to sense him, twisting around, and then she freed a hand to pull him to her side in a brief hug. Josh crumpled against Paige's side, burying his face in her hair, tears flowing silently down his cheeks.

"She was my friend," he choked out, his voice thick. "She was my friend, and now she's dead."

"Come on," he heard Paige say, softly, as she stroked a hand through his hair. "Let's get out of here, okay?"

Josh nodded, reluctantly pulling away from Paige and wiping his eyes on his grimy sleeve. He stuck close to Paige as she gathered Paxton's lifeless body in her arms, her daughter's head lolling against her shoulder.

They walked for a little bit, Josh clinging to Paige whenever he stumbled over the rough ground, and then Paige stopped. The place they were in seemed completely random, looking like the other parts of the Underworld that he'd seen, but Paige seemed to recognize it. She wrapped an arm around Josh's shoulders, her grip tight, and then the world disappeared in front of his eyes in a swirl of bright, white lights.

When they reformed, they were in a cemetery. The headstone in front of them read _'Henry Mitchell'_ and Josh guessed it was someone Paige knew, from the way her eyes filled with fresh tears. She knelt down in front of the headstone, carefully placing Paxton on the grass in front of the dark gray granite.

"Please let this work," he heard her whisper, and then she placed her hands on Paxton's chest and pushed.

Her palms glowed with the same, white light of their teleport, and then Paxton's body disappeared. The white lights trickled down into the ground, leaving only slightly flattened grass in its wake. Paige placed her hand flat against the granite, sniffing back tears.

"Rest in peace, darling," she whispered. "I'll see you again, some day." Then, she stood and turned to where Josh was waiting. "Come on," she told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Let's go find your mom and dad."


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note:** Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing.

* * *

"Any suggestions on how we're going to stop our alternate selves?" Piper asked, overhearing Phoebe's comment. "Because I don't know about you, but I have no idea how to stop someone who can throw fire."

"Not to mention whatever nasty surprises your alternate self might have tucked up her sleeve," Phoebe remarked. "Really, Piper? The Source of All Evil?"

"Well," Piper muttered, "I have always been an overachiever." Sensing a pair of eyes boring into her back, she turned around to see Leo staring at her, a dumbfounded expression on his face. "Leo?" she prompted, when he didn't say anything.

"You're pregnant," he said, sounding stunned.

"Yeah," Piper said, softly, taking a guess as to what had him so flabbergasted. "Almost eight months. A girl. Prudence Melinda," she added, with a fond glance at her older sister.

"You're really an alternate version of my Piper?" Leo went on, quietly, and Piper nodded. "Then, this," Leo went on, "this is the life that we could have had?" Piper nodded, again, unable to speak in the face of the raw emotion coming from Leo. For his part, Leo looked like he was fighting back tears. "Are we happy?" he finally whispered, his voice hoarse.

"Deliriously," Piper told him, with a small smile.

"Not to break up this tender moment," Prue said, hesitantly, breaking the silence that had fallen over the group, "but Phoebe's right. We need to be thinking of a way to stop my sisters before they hurt anyone else."

"Well," Phoebe spoke up, "we can't kill them. I mean, I know they're evil, there's no argument there, but they're still human. They're still-"

"Us?" Piper finished for her, wryly, when Phoebe trailed off, awkwardly. "You're right, though," she went on. "We can't just kill them. Which kind of puts us right back on square one-"

"Maybe not," Prue interrupted her. "What about stripping their powers?"

"That could work," Piper said. "We've even got the right spell for it. Remember the one that we used when Rex and Hannah were blackmailing us into giving up our powers?"

"Slight problem," Phoebe said, before Prue could say anything in reply. "How, exactly are we going to get the two of them to say the spell? They have to be the ones to relinquish their powers, remember?"

"I think we can help with that."

Piper turned around at the sound of Paige's voice, blinking in surprise at the misty figure making her way across the clouds to where they were standing. Then, she saw Henry at Paige's side, and she realized that she was looking at her sister's ghost. A shudder ran through her as she took in Paige standing before her, and she could see the same look on Phoebe's face, out of the corner of her eye.

Then, she looked over at Prue. Her older sister was staring at Paige and Henry in amazement, blinking back tears.

"You're really here," Prue whispered, her voice shaky, and Paige smiled at her.

"Did you really think that we would leave you?" she asked, quietly.

"We've been watching over you," Henry added, a fond smile on his face. "Ever since-"

"Ever since you died?" Prue interrupted him, and Piper was surprised to hear a bitter tone in her voice.

"Prue, that's not your fault," Paige said, and when Prue didn't look convinced, Paige crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her older sister. "Say it," she demanded.

"Say what?" Prue echoed, baffled.

"That it's not your fault," Paige told her, sternly. "Because it's not. You are not responsible for Henry and me dying."

"If I hadn't died," Prue said, undaunted by her younger sister's ire, "then you never would have been sacrificed. And Henry wouldn't have been killed."

"Their Prue died," Henry said, jabbing a finger over at Piper and Phoebe, "and they didn't go on a killing spree and take over the Underworld." Thinking about it for a moment, he looked over at Piper and Phoebe and added, "You didn't, right?"

"We didn't," Piper assured him, and Henry nodded in satisfaction.

"See?" he said to Prue. "Their sister died, and they didn't go crazy. So, your sisters going crazy is not your fault."

"How did you know about that?" Phoebe asked, curiously.

"We've been watching Prue," Henry reminded her. "We've been kind of keeping an eye on things, especially after the three of you popped into existence." Glancing over at Prue, he added, "Our deaths were not your fault."

"Maybe you're right," Prue admitted, reluctantly.

"I _know_ I'm right," Paige was saying, but then she trailed off, looking into the distance.

"What's going on?" Henry asked, elbowing her gently in the side to get her attention.

"Someone's calling me," she said, a faraway look in her face.

"The Elders, again?" Henry asked, sounding concerned, but Paige shook her head, slowly.

"Someone else," she said, quietly, and then she kind of faded out of sight, her voice trailing back to them. "I'll be right back."

* * *

When the lights of their arrival faded, Paige stared around the destroyed penthouse in horror. The windows had been shattered, millions of tiny, glass shards littering the floor. The couch had exploded in clouds of stuffing. The coffee table had been broken cleanly down the middle, and the bowl she'd used to scry for Josh was melted and warped almost beyond recognition.

_'What the hell happened here?'_ Paige thought, worriedly, tightening her grip on Josh's shoulder when the boy tried to move away from her.

"Where are my mom and dad?" he asked, in a small, scared voice.

"I don't know, sweetie," Paige admitted, giving the boy a hug when he pressed against her side. "But I'm going to find out."

She couldn't sense her sisters, which scared her. Ever since the Elders had assigned her as their secondary Whitelighter – at both her and Leo's insistence – she'd had a supernatural LoJack on Piper and Phoebe. She was always able to sense them, unless one of them was in the Underworld, or –

_'Could they be in the Heavens?'_ Paige thought, casting an involuntary glance up toward the ceiling.

The Underworld was on another plane of existence, and it was that phase shift, combined with the dark magic that permeated the very air down in Hell, that kept her from sensing her charges. The Heavens worked the same way, existing on a different plane from Earth. The difference between Heaven and Hell, though, was that, being a Whitelighter, her magic harmonized with the Heavens, and she was able to distinguish between the Upper plane and her charges, even across the phase shift. It was actually a stronger sense by the way the Heavens enhanced her own magic, as it did for all Whitelighters.

But, her sisters' magic didn't resonate on the same frequency, so it was entirely possible that the magic of the Heavens was blocking her sisters, shielding them from her.

_'Well,'_ Paige thought, as she looked around the demolished penthouse, _'I'm never going to find them just sitting here.'_

"Come on," she said to Josh, giving him a reassuring smile when he glanced up at her. "We're going to go find your mom."

Josh just looked at her, confusion on his face. "Who are you?" he asked, sounding tired. "I know you're Paxton's mom, but, who else? Why were you looking for me?"

"Your mom," Paige told him, "is my sister. You're my nephew."

Josh looked like he was thinking about her words for a moment. "Does that mean," he finally ventured, "that Paxton is – _was_ – my cousin?" When Paige nodded, he went on, "Do you think she knew?"

"I think she does, now," Paige reassured him.

"Do you think she went to heaven?" Josh asked, quietly.

"Yes," Paige said, immediately, even though she didn't know for sure.

She hoped – _prayed_ – that her daughter's soul was somewhere safe; she was an Innocent, even after all her time in the Underworld. She'd risked her life to protect Josh, and she'd given up her life saving them. If there was any justice in the world, if Paige had earned any kind of favors with the Elders in her year and half as a witch –

_'I just have to hope that they're as good, here, as they have been in my own world,'_ she thought, suppressing a sigh.

Glancing over at Josh, she gave the boy a brief smile, ruffling his hair. "Hey," she told him, "before we go find your parents, there's something you need to know."

"Okay," Josh said, cautiously, sounding wary.

"In this world," Paige said, "there's a woman who is an alternate version of your mom, but evil."

"The Seer," Josh told her, with a small nod. "She and her sister, the Source, rule the Underworld."

"Right," Paige agreed. "Well, your mom and I, we have another sister, Piper. And her alternate self, in this universe, is the Source. She looks exactly like her."

"There's someone out there who looks like the person who killed Paxton?" Josh asked.

Paige nodded. "Are you going to be okay with that?" she asked, carefully. "Seeing her, and knowing who she looks like?"

"They're not the same person, right?" Josh pressed.

"No," Paige hastened to reassure him. "No, Piper wanted to find you just as much as your mom did. You're ours, you're family."

"I think I'll be okay with it," Josh finally told her, after a few moments of quiet deliberation. Giving her a concerned look, he went on, "What about you?"

"I think I'm going to be okay with it, too," Paige told him, touched by his worry. "Josh, about Pax-"

"I know you want to keep her a secret," Josh said, before she could finish her sentence. "Don't worry. I won't say anything."

"Okay, the psychic thing's a little weird," Paige decided, "but considering your mother, it's probably to be expected."

"Dad said I got my gifts from her," Josh told her, proudly. "I can't really read your mind, though. Mostly just emotions. Dad says it's called empathy."

"Well, come on, Empath," Paige teased him, gently. "Let's go home, huh?"

She wasn't entirely sure how to get up to the Upper plane on her own. The few times she'd gone, she'd been in either Leo's company, or her father's, and she'd been able to follow their orb trail. Alone, though – she didn't know this reality; there were no familiar magical signatures for her to hone in on. Which mean winging it, and that could be dangerous when it came to orbing.

But, there was no other safe place to go, and she was just going to have to risk it. If only 'risking it' didn't involve risking Josh, as well.

Paige pushed down the doubts that crowded her mind, taking a slow, deep breath to ease her shaking nerves. She wrapped her arms firmly around Josh, keeping him close so that she didn't run the risk of losing him. She focused everything, every fiber of her being on the white eternity. And then she orbed.

It wasn't up, like most people would think. It was more of a step sideways. Admittedly a big step, and not unlike orbing into Hell, when she really thought about it. But, where she felt a subtle revulsion rippling along her skin when she orbed into Hell, like her magic was screaming at her to keep away, orbing into the Heavens felt like being wrapped in a soft, well-worn bathrobe. It felt like coming home.

When the lights of her orb faded, she looked around the familiar surroundings. Beside her, Josh relaxed minutely as he looked at all the white, the tension slowly bleeding from his shoulders. When he stiffened, a second later, she started to look around in alarm, but she let out a sigh when she saw what he was looking at.

"Mom!" Josh cried, breaking away from her to sprint across the clouds and straight into Phoebe's arms.

"That was fast," she heard from behind her, and she almost jumped at the sound of the familiar voice. Turning around slowly, she saw Henry watching her with a small smile on his face. "Was he the one who was calling you?"

"Henry?" Paige could barely breathe for the lump that formed in her throat.

"Who else would it be?" he started, but then he frowned, his brow furrowing. "You're not my Paige."

"I'm the same, old Paige I've always been," she quipped, weakly, staring at him in amazement.

"I, however, am your Paige," another voice spoke up, and Paige turned around to see a confused look flash briefly across her alternate self's face. "Wait, that didn't come out right."

"I happen to think it came out perfectly," Henry told her, slinging an arm across her shoulders. "So, what was up?"

"I'll tell you in a minute," alt-Paige told him, a somber look falling over her face. "Right now, I need to talk to her." She jerked her head at Paige, who nodded in understanding. There could be only one thing, right now, that her alternate self would want to discuss.

"I'll just be over there, then," Henry said, easily, turning and walking over to where the rest of the group was.

Paige and her ghostly alter ego followed his progress, and she saw a shadow cross the ghost's face as she watched the tearful reunion between Josh and his overjoyed parents. The other Paige looked like her heart was slowly breaking into a million pieces, and Paige could only imagine that she looked much the same. She was immensely grateful for the distance between her and her sisters that kept them from seeing the tears that coursed silently down her cheeks.

"Please," she whispered, her eyes never leaving Josh, "please tell me she's with you." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her alternate self nod, once, and her shoulders slumped in relief. "Oh, thank God."

"She's safe," her ghost replied, her voice so quiet that Paige could barely hear her. "She's scared, confused. I told her that you – that I – died down in the Underworld rescuing her friend. The truth is too painful, too complicated, and I just don't think she's ready for it."

"Where is she?" Paige asked, wanting desperately to see her little girl again, even if she wasn't sure she could handle the sight of her baby as a ghost.

"With Mom and Grams," the other Paige told her. "I figured that she'd be safe there, until everything was over."

Paige nodded in agreement. "After all this time," she whispered, "I can't believe that I couldn't protect her. She's my daughter; I should have been able to save her."

"You still can," came the quiet reply, and Paige shot her alternate self a skeptical look. "Think about it," her counterpart told her. "In your universe, Piper and Phoebe aren't evil. Pax is still alive down there. You can still save her."

Paige stared at her ghostly self in stunned disbelief. "I-" she started, trailing off, helplessly, and the other Paige nodded.

"Yeah," she agreed. "And I want you to promise me that after you rescue her, you're going to find the son of a bitch who kidnapped our baby girl, and you're going to make him pay."

"With interest," Paige vowed, and a darkly satisfied look flashed across her doppelganger's face. "But, first," she added, "we have your universe to save."


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note:** Sorry it took me so long to update. Next chapter will be up, sooner.

* * *

When Paige and her alternate self rejoined the rest of the group, they found them in the middle of an argument. Her sisters and Prue were arguing in favor using the power relinquishing spell on their alternate selves, and Leo and Cole were arguing against, claiming that spells were too unreliable, and the only way to truly render the evil Piper and Phoebe powerless was through a potion. Paige exchanged a wry look with her alternate self when their arrival didn't even make a dent in the argument, but before she could do anything, the ghost put two fingers in her mouth and let out a piercing whistle.

"I believe the floor is now yours," her alternate self said, gesturing at the staring group.

"Thank you," Paige replied. Turning her attention back to her sisters, she added, "Leo and Cole are right. There's one, big flaw in the relinquishing spell."

"What kind of flaw?" Prue demanded.

"How about the one where the relinquishing spell needs to be said three times for our powers to be given up?" she pointed out. "We don't exactly have a coherent Power of Three going on down there. Unless I said the spell," she added, hesitantly.

"No way in Hell," Piper said, immediately. "Even though we're in an alternate universe, there's no way to guarantee that you'd be giving up _her_ powers-" she nodded sharply at alt-Paige – "and you could wind up sacrificing your own."

"Not to mention," Leo spoke up, "that the Power of Three was irrevocably shattered when Piper and Phoebe killed Paige. The relinquishing spell will only work on a whole Power of Three."

"You couldn't have mentioned that sooner?" Piper retorted, and Leo shot her an irritated look.

"I was _trying_," he muttered. "You wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise."

"Okay, the two of you need to stop bickering." Prue interrupted whatever Piper was going to say with a pointed glare and a stubborn tilt of her chin. "We need to figure out another way to take away my sisters' powers."

"Potion," Cole said, succinctly. "We need to use a potion."

"We can't," Phoebe said, quietly, shaking her head.

"Phoebe, a potion has the best chance of succeeding," Cole protested, "and our friendly ghosts can still possess your evil clones and make them drink it."

"We can't use a potion," Phoebe said, insistently. "We can't do anything to take away their powers."

"Phoebe-" Piper started, but Phoebe quickly shook her head, cutting her older sister off.

"Don't you remember what that notebook said?" she asked Piper, pleadingly. "It said that their magic was the only thing keeping Prue alive. We can't do anything to take their magic away, because then we – we're –"

She broke off on a choked sob, burying her face in her hands. Understanding, Paige moved to her side and wrapped her arms around Phoebe, stroking a hand through her hair when Phoebe clung to her.

"You knew, didn't you?" she demanded, hoarsely. "After you read that notebook, you knew what would happen to Prue-"

"Yeah," Paige agreed, softly, and Phoebe pulled away to glare at her.

"Why didn't you tell us?" she asked, incredulously.

"Because I didn't want her to," Prue interrupted, as gently as she could. "I knew that it could distract you and Piper, if you knew-"

"Knew what?" Piper broke in, anger creeping into her voice. "Does someone want to fill me in on what the hell you're all talking about?"

Prue sighed, her shoulders slumping as she looked over at Piper. "I'm only alive because of the spell that my sisters cast," she reminded her. "As soon as we take away that magic, I'm going to die, again."

"No," Piper protested, instantly, but Prue shook her head.

"It's the only way," she said, quietly.

"It can't be," Piper insisted, and Paige could hear tears in her voice.

"It's not," Phoebe said, suddenly, getting more and more excited as she talked. "What if we transferred the spell? It's already active; all we need to do is switch the source that it draws power from. And if the spell is suddenly powered by three, rather than two, it's going to be stronger, right? And-"

"Phoebe, breathe," Cole coached, her, as she rambled without pause. Beside her, Josh was giving his mother a worried look, like he expected her to pass out at any second.

"We can make this work," Phoebe enthused, undaunted. "You don't have to die, Prue."

"But, you'd have to stay here, for your magic to power the spell," Prue reminded her. "I can't ask you to give up your lives like that. Not for me."

"You can come with us," Piper said, catching onto Phoebe's enthusiasm. "Back to our reality. We can be a family, again."

Prue looked tempted. Paige could see the longing clear on her face. And there was a large part of her that wanted to beg Prue to come back with them, to not break their family up, again. But, she kept quiet. The only person who could make this decision was Prue, and Paige wasn't going to do anything to make it harder.

The moments of silence until Prue spoke were some of the longest Paige could remember experiencing. But, from the look on Prue's face, she had the feeling she already knew what the answer was.

"I can't," she finally said, quietly. "I don't belong in your world. You already had a sister, your Prue, and I don't want to replace her. I _can't_ replace her. And I can't ask you to replace my sisters."

"So, you're just going to die?" Phoebe asked, a plaintive note in her voice.

"She won't be alone," Henry spoke up, as he and alt-Paige stepped up beside Prue. "We'll be with her."

"I belong here," Prue said, softly, apologetically. "Besides, someone has to protect the Innocent after you're gone."

"This sucks," Piper declared, after a few moments of silence.

"Seconded," Phoebe declared. Heaving a sigh, she added, "All right, focus. What do we need for this potion? Do we use the same one I made for Cole?"

"What about the potion that Aunt Gail used to take our powers and give them to Cryto?" Prue suggested.

"Who's Gail, and what's a Cryto?" Paige interrupted.

"Witch and demon," Piper said, succinctly. "No, that potion takes too long. Remember, it took nearly half an hour to take effect the first time. I really don't think that we have that kind of luxury, right now."

"Yeah, but Paige and I could hold them off for half an hour," Prue argued.

"Speak for yourself," Paige muttered under her breath, when she heard Prue's comment.

"And, then you and Phoebe would be able to get their powers," Prue said, as if Paige hadn't even spoken.

"Including all the demonic powers they've picked up over the last year and a half," Leo spoke up. "Yes, that spell specifies a witch's powers, but with Piper and Phoebe, their demonic powers have become irrevocably entwined with their witch powers. There's no separating them, at this point."

"Okay, yeah, that's a bad plan," Prue agreed. "I guess we're going with Phoebe's plan."

"She'll never change," Piper said to Phoebe, clearly trying for a light tone. "Prue still pouts when we don't go with her plan."

"I do not pout," Prue protested, and Piper rolled her eyes.

"You totally pout," she informed her older sister. Quieter, she added, "And you have no idea how much I miss it. Miss you."

Prue surprised all of them by stepping forward and pulling Piper into her arms, for a tight hug. After a moment, she reached out and snagged Phoebe, too. She held onto the two of them for almost a minute, and then the three of them, finally, reluctantly pulled away.

"I'm going to miss you, too," Prue said, her voice thick with tears. "All of you," she added, glancing back at Paige.

"Ditto," Piper told her, softly. Turning to Phoebe, she added, "Come on. If those two are going to be doing the heavy lifting, the least we can do is get the potion ready."

"I'll orb you down to get supplies," Leo offered. "I can shield you, keep you from being detected."

Paige put her hand on Prue's shoulder as Piper and Phoebe walked away, keeping her older sister from following them. Prue turned around to look at her, a quizzical expression on her face.

"What's going on?" she asked, and Paige sighed, breath shuddering out of her.

"When we go down there," she said, softly, "I need you to take Piper. I'll take Phoebe, I just – not Piper. We're trying to take them alive, and I – I don't trust myself not to kill her, right now."

"What happened down there?" Prue demanded, and Paige blinked, feeling tears rush to her eyes. "Paige?" Prue asked, worriedly. "Talk to me, honey. What's wrong?"

"I found her, Prue," Paige whispered, her voice cracking. "Pax was down there." Prue gasped, her eyes wide, and Paige nodded, jerkily. "I had her back. She was in my arms. And then-"

"Piper found you," Prue guessed, and Paige nodded, again, pressing her lips into a tight line to keep from crying. She didn't trust herself to speak. "Oh, Paige. I'm sorry; I'm so sorry."

Paige looked away from the sympathy in Prue's eyes, over to where her alternate self was breaking the same news to Henry. She saw a shocked look on his face, and she had to blink back a fresh spate of tears.

"I know she's not really my daughter," she said, shakily. "She's hers." She gestured to her ghostly counterpart. "But, Pax died in my arms, and I can't – I can't face Piper right now. I might do something that I'd regret later."

"Leave Piper to me," Prue reassured her, gently. "Me and Henry," she amended, looking over Paige's shoulder, to where the ghosts were talking. "I think he's trying to convince Paige to take Phoebe, instead."

"You both know us, so well," Paige commented, wryly.

"It's annoying, isn't it?" her doppelganger remarked, as she and Henry joined them. "And just think, I'm looking at all eternity with them."

"Oh, you love us," Henry teased, and Paige cracked a grin.

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered. "Always have, always will."

Nearly half an hour later, Leo orbed back up with Piper and Phoebe in tow. Both women were holding glass vials filled with a light blue liquid.

"You guys ready?" Piper asked, without preamble. "Because I want to take our evil twins out, and then get back to our own reality. Not that it hasn't been great," she added, hastily, "but-"

"Yeah, _but_," Paige agreed, emphasizing the word. "Yeah, we're ready."

"All right," Prue said, briskly. "So, plan. You and Phoebe," she told Piper, "are going to stay out of the way until Paige and Henry have possessed your alternate selves. Then, you come in with the potion. Paige, Cole, and I will hold them off until our ghost posse can take control."

"And Josh stays with Leo until everything is safe," Phoebe interjected, fixing her son with a stern look. "Don't even think about arguing."

"I wasn't," Josh said, holding his hands up, quickly. "I don't want to go down there ever again."

"Smart kid," Cole remarked, affectionately.

"Josh and I will go get Darryl," Leo replied. "We're going to need him, after."

"Are you okay with this?" Piper asked, carefully. "I mean, she is your wife-"

"My Piper died the day she chose to take an innocent life," Leo said, flatly. "And with the options we have available," he added, softer, "I'd rather see her in jail, than dead."

"Let's go, then," Prue declared, and Leo nodded, orbing himself, Josh, Piper, and Phoebe out of the clouds. Paige followed behind, orbing Prue and Cole with her back to Earth.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note:** Last chapter, folks. Hope you've enjoyed the ride.

* * *

Paige and her passengers emerged in the attic of the Manor. Paige blinked in surprise, but really she should have expected it. The Manor was under demonic control, after all, and Piper and Phoebe most likely used it as their base of operations above ground. It only made sense that their final confrontation would take place, there.

"What happened to this place?" Prue demanded, aghast.

"We kind of had a little fight with a demon when we first arrived in this reality," Paige explained, looking around the destroyed attic. "It wasn't this bad when we orbed out, though."

"We think our demonic friend lost his temper after we escaped," Piper spoke up, and Paige looked over to see Piper and Phoebe emerging from the hallway. Even though she suspected their alternate selves would have already tried to kill them, Paige still didn't breathe easy until she saw Piper's heavily-distended abdomen.

"Any signs of life down below?" Paige asked, quietly, nodding toward the lower floors of the house.

"None on the second floor," Phoebe replied, "but we heard some people moving around down in the kitchen."

"All right," Prue said, cracking her knuckles and making Paige wince at the sound, "Paige, Cole, and I will go down there and take care of things. You two wait for our signal."

"Which is?" Piper prompted, expectantly.

"Do screams count?" Paige asked, wryly, getting an exasperated look from Cole.

"I'll come get you," he told the women. "Until then, stay up here, and stay hidden."

Paige and Prue raided the stash of weapons near the door, the one their evil sisters clearly hadn't seen fit to do away with, even in this reality. Paige palmed a long, thin dagger, tucking another blade, in its sheath, into her boot, glad that she'd chosen to wear hiking boots that morning. Prue readied herself with a short-handled, doubled-bladed axe that she tossed idly from hand to hand. It was big enough that Paige figured she had to be using her power to support some of the weight.

The three of them crept slowly downstairs. Paige and Prue both automatically skipped lightly over the third step from the top of the staircase, the one that always squeaked. Cole, with his longer strides, just avoided the step like it wasn't even there. Paige stayed up on the balls of her feet as she walked, dagger clutched firmly in the palm of her hand. Prue was at her side, and she could sense Cole at their backs, all of them keeping an eye out for danger.

When they reached the living room, Prue signaled for them to pause, and then she closed her eyes and sent her astral self ahead of them. Paige heard a muffled yell of surprise coming from the kitchen, and then Prue's eyes snapped open as she recalled her astral projection.

"Incoming," she hissed, seconds before a pair of demons came tearing into the room.

Paige was ready, and her first dagger found a home buried in the throat of the lead demon. He fell, emitting a low, gurgling sound as he died. Cole took care of the second, an energy ball incinerating the lower-level thug in a flash of flame.

"Any more?" Paige asked, cautiously, as they ducked back around the corner to wait for any further attack. She dragged the demon with them, pulling her dagger out of its throat and wiping the bloody blade on its clothes.

"I only saw two," Prue replied, just as quietly. "They were standing guard in front of the door to the basement."

"What do you want to bet your sisters are down there drawing on the Nexus?" Cole asked, softly. "It's what I would do, if I was evil, and I had control of the Manor."

"Speaking of," Paige said, hesitantly. She stopped her brother-in-law with a hand on his arm, looking up at Cole. "I'm sorry for thinking you were evil, before," she apologized. "Some of the things I said-"

"I _was_ evil, or possessed by it, anyway," Cole reminded her. "And you were just as much a victim of the Source as I was. _And_ you went into the Underworld, alone, to rescue my son. As far as I'm concerned, that more than evens things out between us. If anything, I owe you."

"Great, that's adorable," Prue interrupted them. "Let's go get this over with, huh?"

Her shoulders were tense, and her mouth was set in a tight line, and there was a grim look on her face. Paige reached out and squeezed Prue's hand, gently, getting her attention.

"It's going to be okay," she murmured, comfortingly. "I promise. Everything's going to be okay."

Prue nodded, the upset in her eyes easing a bit. At her signal, the three of them crept forward, again. The kitchen was quiet, the guards not having been missed, yet. Paige hoped that they weren't due to change guards any time soon, or they would be discovered.

The door to the basement was firmly shut, but Prue gestured and the door swung silently open, coming to a gentle rest against the side of the counter. Paige stopped Prue and Cole before they could start across the kitchen, shaking her head as she pointed at the tile floor.

"Can you shimmer us across?" she whispered, her voice barely audible. "Walking is too noisy, and orbing is too bright."

Cole nodded, grabbing her and Prue by the shoulders. They shimmered across the kitchen, the teleport leaving Paige with a queasy sensation that had her automatically checking to make sure that she hadn't just left her stomach in the dining room.

From down inside the basement, Paige could make out the sound of muffled voices, chanting a ritual in a language she didn't recognize, at first. After a few seconds, she started to make out individual words, and she realized that the connection she had with her Piper and Phoebe must have still existed on some level with this Piper and Phoebe, as well.

_'Maybe I can make this work to my advantage,'_ she thought, as she listened to the droning chant of their ritual.

The strange words were slowly becoming more and more clear, like when she gained a charge who spoke a different language. Usually, the translating effect was faster than this, but Paige figured that it had something to do with these women being alternate copies of her sisters, not to mention the whole evil thing.

"-come to us, oh Bringer of Night – " That was Phoebe's voice, and the flat, emotionless sound sent chills down Paige's spine.

"Destroyer of Light, we summon thee-" Piper, and compared to Phoebe's dead tone, there was an almost malicious glee in her voice.

Paige gulped, turning to Prue and Cole who were looking at her, quizzically.

"We need to get down there, now," Paige told them, in a hushed voice, "and we need to stop that ritual."

"We don't even know what they're doing," Prue argued, quietly. "We have no idea what we're walking into."

"Trust me," Paige said, dryly. "I have more than an idea. They're trying to summon something they're calling the Destroyer of Light. And I think they're going to succeed."

Cole looked faintly sick at Paige's words. She wondered if he knew what she was referencing, and from his words, he knew exactly what they were doing.

"Do you know what they're doing?" she asked, and Cole nodded. With a quick jerk of his head, he motioned for Paige and Prue to follow him a few feet away from the doorway.

"Do you remember the Hollow?" Cole asked, softly.

Paige nodded, grimly, but Prue just looked confused, and Paige was reminded that Prue had never experienced the events leading up to the release of the Hollow. And from Cole's lead-in, it sounded like she was about to experience something even worse, if they couldn't stop it.

"The Hollow is a mindless, magic-eating dust cloud," Paige explained to Prue. "When we vanquished the Source, he'd summoned the Hollow out of its containment and stole my and Piper's powers."

"Containment?" Prue hissed, keeping her voice down to keep from attracting attention.

"The Hollow is so horrible that good and evil has actually been cooperating for millennia in order to keep it under wraps," Paige told her.

"And what your sisters are summoning," Cole broke in, "is even worse. It's called the Destroyer, and it's rumored to be the original creator of the Hollow."

"Rumored to be?" Paige echoed. "You mean you don't know for sure?"

"No one in the Underworld really knows anything about this demon, if that's what it really is," Cole replied. "You can ask Leo, and I'd bet he'll say the same. Whatever this thing is, it's so old that it's been lost to history. The only thing I learned over the years was to never call on the Destroyer. To summon the Destroyer is to summon Death, itself."

"I've met Death," Prue said, clearly trying for a flippant tone. "He's not that scary."

"Yeah, well this is," Cole retorted. "The Source might have been stupid enough to summon the Hollow, but even he knew better than to call on the Destroyer. Because it would have obliterated us, all."

"Do you have to be so melodramatic?" Paige demanded, softly, raising an eyebrow at her brother-in-law. "All right, how do we stop this thing?"

"Break the ritual," Cole answered, promptly. "It's a long one, so that's where we have the advantage."

"And if they're already done?" Prue asked.

"Then you won't have to wait for a broken spell to kill you," Cole told her. "And we'll all be joining you."

"None of us are dying, today," Paige spoke up, a determined tone in her voice.

"I don't count," Prue muttered, clearly trying to lighten the mood, "since I'm technically already dead." Paige shook her head, elbowing Prue and getting a smile in return. "On three," Prue suggested, and at nods from the other two, started counting, softly. "One, two-"

On three, they burst into the basement, spilling down the stairs in a barely-controlled rush. Cole bellowed as they ran, startling the chanters into briefly halting their ritual. Piper turned around at the sound of the interruption, and Paige took advantage of the momentary distraction to throw herself across the space that separated them.

Forgetting her earlier words to Prue, Paige hurled herself and Piper and tackled the older woman to the ground. She slammed Piper heavily into the floor of the basement, pinning her to the ground with her weight. She heard a crack as Piper's arm broke on impact with the floor, watched a grimace of pain run across her face. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Prue engaging Phoebe in a similar fight.

To her amazement, Piper had started her chanting again, and Paige snarled in frustration. She clapped a hand over Piper's mouth to block the flow of words, and then yelped in pain when Piper sunk her teeth squarely into her hand, drawing blood. Paige jerked her hand out of Piper's mouth, several drops of blood flying through the air to land on a dark spot that was slowly growing on the floor.

Paige could see a figure growing out of the shadows, something tall, and skeletal, and faceless, and then Cole scuffed his hand across the chalk pattern in the middle of the attic, destroying the integrity of the circle. The skeletal thing vanished with a high-pitched scream, leaving them alone with a pair of pissed-off witches.

"I'm going send you back to Hell with your little brat," Piper growled out, but Paige shook her head.

"I'm not going to give you the chance," she retorted. "Henry, now!"

A brief flash of light was all that heralded the ghost's arrival. She got to see Henry's face for an instant, and then he seemed to simply fade into Piper. Piper's face blurred, as Henry's transparent image superimposed itself over her features, and then her head moved, her eyes fixing firmly on Paige's.

"I've got her. You can let me up, now." Paige could hear Henry's voice overlaying Piper's, like the two of them were trying to talk over each other.

She stood, cautiously, letting Henry push Piper's body up with her good arm. She kept a careful eye on Piper, not completely trusting the older woman to be under Henry's control. Piper was moving stiffly, like she a marionette being controlled by strings. Actually, from the way she kept jerking around, her puppeteer appeared to be drunk.

"This is strange," Henry said, still in that strange double voice. "But, I think I'm getting the hang of it."

"Me, too." Hearing her voice overlaid with Phoebe's was just strange. She looked over to see her own face shimmering over Phoebe's. "She's fighting me, but I'm not going to let her win."

"We can't hold them like this forever, though." Henry, and he sounded tense. "You need to get those potions, now."

Cole disappeared, shimmering up to the attic. He reappeared a few seconds later with Piper and Phoebe, both of them holding their vials of power stripping potion.

"Hurry," Paige urged, a sentiment quickly echoed by the ghosts.

Piper and Phoebe passed over the vials of the potion, and the rest was rather anticlimactic. The ghosts made their hostages down the potion, and then they jumped out of their bodies as the potion started to take effect. A pair of glass vials crashed to the ground and shattered into a million, tiny shards as Piper and Phoebe dropped them, murky lights rising out of their bodies to disappear into thin air.

"What did you do to us?" Piper demanded, hoarsely, when an abrupt gesture failed to produce a fireball in the palm of her hand.

"What you would have wanted us to do, if you were still in your right minds." Paige turned around at the sound of Prue's voice, tears filling her eyes as she stared at her oldest sister.

Prue was standing, or floating, rather, in front of them in a long, white gown. She was almost completely transparent. Her physical body had disappeared, which was to be expected, since it had been solely the creation of the magic that had brought her back to life. Paige wiped the tears from her eyes, silently cursing herself for having missed Prue's second death, and from the dismayed looks on her Piper and Phoebe's faces, they felt the same way.

"It's okay," Prue said, seeing their expressions. "Really, it is. This is where I'm meant to be."

"You're dead," Phoebe insisted, tearfully.

"And that's okay," Prue told her, reassuringly. "I wasn't sure before, but I am, now. I'm going to be fine."

"How could you?" Paige looked over at the sound of the harshly accusing voice to see Phoebe's counterpart glaring furiously at Prue. "After everything we did for you, everything we sacrificed-"

"Like our sister?" Prue interrupted, her voice hard as she stared at her younger sisters. "You sacrificed an innocent life. You murdered people I love!"

"We did it for you," Piper shot at her, but Prue shook her head.

"I would have rather been in Hell," she told them, quietly. "After what you did, it felt like I was."

"We just wanted to bring you home," Phoebe said, and Paige could feel her heart ache at the plaintive tone in the other woman's voice.

"I would have always been with you," Prue said, gently, one hand barely brushing over her sister's cheek. "And I always will be. Even all of this won't change that."

Leo chose that moment to knock lightly on the door to the basement, and he, Josh, and Darryl trooped down the stairs. Darryl didn't say anything as he pulled out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed Piper and Phoebe's hands behind their back; he just looked unbearably sad.

"I'm sorry," he finally said to Prue, and then he led Piper and Phoebe up the stairs, reading them their rights as they walked. Leo went with him to make sure that neither woman gave the cop any trouble.

"I can't believe it," Prue said, softly, when they were alone in the basement. "It's really over. We stopped them." She shook her head, an incredulous tone in her voice. "I didn't think I would ever see this happen."

Paige sighed as she wrapped an arm around Piper's waist, leaning on her older sister as much as Piper was leaning on her. "I'm sorry that we had to be the ones to bring it about," she remarked, quietly.

"If it helps," Prue told them, "you were setting me free. And for that, I'm grateful."

"I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one," Piper said, and Phoebe murmured agreement. "Does anyone know how we're getting out of here, and back to our own world?"

"I think we might have an idea about that one," Prue said, with a mysterious smile directed at her Paige. "Come on, everyone upstairs."

At her words, the ghosts vanished from the basement. Phoebe rolled her eyes.

"Show-offs," she muttered, and if either of her sisters noticed that her voice was thicker than normal, neither of them called her on it.

The group took their time walking up the stairs to the attic. Phoebe, Cole, and Josh went first, jostling playfully for position on the stairs, and Paige and Piper followed slower behind. Everyone was silent; Paige couldn't stop thinking about everything that they were leaving behind, and she had the feeling that her family was dwelling on much the same.

Her _family_. They were adding two new members to their family. And as soon as they got home, that number was going to go up to three. Pax's face flashed quickly through her mind, and Paige clenched her hands briefly into fists.

_'Soon, baby girl,'_ she thought, determination filling her with every step. _'I'm coming for you, soon. I promise.'_

When they reached the attic, they found the room filled with ghosts. Along with Prue, Henry, and Paige, there was Patty, Penny, and a multitude of others. Paige saw a group of women in old-fashioned dresses near the front of the group, one of whom she assumed was Melinda Warren. (Paige had found a Polaroid tucked into the back cover of the Book, and Phoebe had confessed to taking the picture when they'd summoned their ancestor out of the past.) There was a woman in full petticoats, and a pair nearby in regal ball gowns. Other ghosts were too indistinct to make out, correctly, and of the ones Paige could see, she counted at least twenty Warren witches filling the attic.

"What's this?" Piper asked, with a startled laugh.

"Everyone wanted to say goodbye," Paige's doppelganger said, giving Paige a significant look.

Paige looked over at her, catching sight of a young girl with bright green eyes peeking out at her from behind her mother. _'I love you,'_ she mouthed, and Pax flashed her a brief, shy smile before fading back into the mass of ghosts, again.

"Plus," Prue spoke up, with a grin, "we figured it would take that many witches to send all five of you home, considering that we're dead, and all."

"Thank you," Patty added, beaming warmly at them, "for saving our family. Without you, my daughters would still be-" She trailed off, unable to even voice the word. "Thank you," she finally repeated.

"We're just glad that things worked out as well as they could," Phoebe said as diplomatically as possible, speaking for all of them.

"And, now, we're going to get you home," Penny said. "Ladies?"

A moment of absolute silence filled the attic, and the then sound of generations of Warren witches chanting in unison filled the attic.

_"A time for everything,  
And to everything, its place.  
Return what has been moved,  
Through time and space."_

Bright orbs of light obscured Paige's vision, and when she could see again, they were still standing in the attic. But, instead of being surrounded by the ghosts of their family, they found themselves looking at Leo, who was standing near the Book. He blinked at them in surprise, looking from them to the Book, and back again.

"That was fast," he remarked, mildly. "From the passengers, I take it you succeeded?"

"In some things," Paige commented. "It doesn't look like we were gone very long. We were over there for hours."

"It's been about five seconds," Leo told them, and Phoebe groaned.

"Damn," she muttered, good-naturedly. "That means that I still have to go to work." Glancing over at Josh and Cole, she brightened. "I wonder if I can talk Elise into making today a "bring your husband and son to work" day."

"Might want to hold off on that," Piper reminded her, gently. "As far as the rest of the world is concerned, Cole is dead, and Josh has never even existed. Taking them out in public and introducing them to people might raise a few eyebrows."

"I'll talk to the Elders," Leo told them. "There's got to be something they can do; after all, they were planning on this scenario, in the first place."

"I guess that means that I'm going to work alone, then," Phoebe grumped, frowning.

"You could always work from the penthouse," Piper suggested, but Phoebe shook her head.

"Nah," she replied, "I'm saving that for when I butter Elise up to get her to let me work from home for the rest of the week."

"Well, look at it this way," Cole replied. "Josh and I can use the day to go shopping, so that we actually have stuff. Otherwise, we're both going to have to raid Leo's closet, and I don't think any of us wants that."

"Hey!" Leo exclaimed, laughing.

"Actually," Phoebe told him, "I still have your stuff in the penthouse. But, you're right, Josh needs clothes. Come on, I've got my purse down in the kitchen, and I never closed out that joint checking account."

"We'll just pull out some cash," Cole was saying, as the three of them left the attic, "and the fact that I'm technically dead shouldn't be an issue."

"I should get to the club," Piper said, after they'd left. "Michelle Branch is at the club, tonight, and I want everything to be perfect."

"I'll orb you," Leo told her. "That way, you don't have to worry about driving."

"Are you insinuating that I'm too big to get behind the wheel?" Piper asked, archly, and Paige could see panic flash across Leo's face. Then, Piper started chuckling, and Leo visibly relaxed.

Paige watched them orb out of the attic, still laughing, and then she made a beeline for the Book. The pages were already flipping, and when she reached the lectern, it was already open to the blood to blood summoning spell.

"Thanks, Prue," Paige murmured, as she grabbed the notepad they kept near the Book, scribbling down the words of the spell. "Hang on, Pax. I'm coming, baby. I'm coming."

* * *

**Coming soon: the fourth installment of the **_**Down the Twisted Path**_** series: **_**World Enough, and Time:**_

The past: Chris and Josh travel through time, searching for a way to stop Wyatt. The present: The Charmed Ones prepare for the arrival of Piper's baby, fighting an Underworld that wants to capture or kill the Twice-Blessed Child. And the future? Well, what happens there is anyone's guess.


End file.
